The Trailing Frontier - Now on Pre-Order & PDF

It’s beyond annoying, extremely frustrating really.

Especially after building up an entire library and sorting everything within the iBooks app and iCloud sync and everything.

A lot of work to recreate that, and while I do generally order physical books, the majority of my reading is on tablet and phone.

Stupid Apple. Stupid adobe. Stupid… someone?
 
Sorry about this; I just decided to go over the two versions of the book I have downloaded, the original and the updated, to see if the issues have been addressed.

Page 25: As noted elsewhere, in the penultimate paragraph, it is the lower pair of arms that are “smaller and weaker, intended for fine work”.

Page 101: The Guadix Drift is still called the “Gaudix Drift” in the first paragraph.

Page 108: In the second paragraph there is still a mention of the “Galian League”, when I am pretty sure that it is meant to be the Galian Federation.

Page 121: The Outworld subsector is still twice referred to as the “Outworlds” subsector. The first time in the first paragraph and the second time in the third paragraph.

Page 123: Lepanto is still described as an Amber Zone. I am okay with the retcon, but I should note that neither the map of Diamond-Prince Subsector, on page 120, nor the list of the worlds of the subsector, on page 119, say that it is an Amber Zone.

Page 146: The planet listing for the Windfleet Subsector is still a repeat of the Guadix Drift planet listing, rather than the right listing.

Page 149: Though there has been some corrections to the Dova’s World’s characteristic box there are still several mistakes. A starport rating of “X” means “no starport” rather than a poor one. Size “1” means a diameter of 1,600 km and not 16,000 km. Atmosphere “0” means no atmosphere and not an “exotic” one. Hydrosphere “0” means “0 - 5%” hydrographic percentage and not “Water World”.

The Gateway characteristic box still has the error of saying that Technology Level “B” means “Quality Computers” when I think it should mean “Lower Average Imperial”.

Page 163: The map of the Beckann Subsector still has Coralee as part of the Viyard Concourse rather than the Trindel Confederacy, though I acknowledge this could simply be to make the borders of the polities more consistent or aesthetically pleasing.

Page 177: While the description in the Somberview writeup now says the correct population of 600 million it seems bizarre that the characteristic box nows says “600 millions” rather than “Hundreds of millions”. The box was already correct in the previous version and now just seems inconsistent with the other characteristic boxes in the book, not to mention that “600 millions” is bad grammar. I admit this is a minor nitpick but I thought I should bring it up.

Page 183: It seems to me that in the act of removing the statement that Waystation claims ownership of the Paradise of El, that the full sentence was not properly deleted. There is now a random space and full stop after the first sentence of the page.

Page190/191: There seems to be no change to the description of the anti-fighter missiles despite the problem that Annatar Giftbringer brought up.

Page 195: There is seems to be no change in the Vehicle Bay and Vehicle Maintenance Bay descriptions, please do not hesitate to correct me if I am wrong. So am I to assume that the authors did not agree with Geir’s assessment of them?

Page 198: Like with the above there seems to be no change to the “streamlined light hull’ between versions. So does that mean there is no problem with the original?

Page 205: There still seems to be no reference to what a “Deep Space Manoeuvring System” is for those who did not buy the Deepnight Revelation set. Again, please correct me if I am wrong on this matter.

I was going to comment on the fuel issue that Annatar Giftbringer brought up but I am struggling to understand how much fuel is necessary. It seems to me that the 800 tons that the Deep Space Operations Vessel carries is only enough for the Jump-Drive and noting else, such as the Power Plant, but I could be wrong in this.

Page 207: There still seems to be only six staterooms on the deck plan despite the characteristics of the ship given on page 205 saying it has eight staterooms.

Page 209: The Planetology Lab is still listed as 3 tons. The description of the Planetology Lab on page 195 says that “every four tons of lab space allows one person to work”, this indicates that a Planetology Lab of 3 tons is not viable.

Page 220: The federation is still only capable of building jump-1 ships despite the planet Gateway having a class A starport and a technological level of “B”. I assume it has been decided that there is no contradiction here.

Page 221: The ship still has a Jump Control/1 cost of MCr0.1. This is despite the fact that the ship has a core computer and the that page 20 of the High Guard 2022 Update says that the cost of the jump control software is included in the prince of the core computer.

Page 222: The deck plan still mentions a “Launch deck”, however this is not mentioned in the description on the previous page. I also cannot find a reference to what a “Launch deck” is in either the Core Rulebook 2022 Update or the High Guard 2022 Update. It is possible that it meant to say “Launch tube”, but that is also not mentioned on page 221.

Page 227: It still says that the 40 ton ship has a plasma barbette despite the Highguard 2022 Update having it that a ship needs at least 70 tons to have the required number of Firmpoints.

I do not have an opinion on the cargo space issue of the Cargo lighter, on page 226, or the S-40 Gunship, on page 227, so I will leave that for other people to work out.

Page 246: The description of the ship on page 245 says that it has over 24,000 tons dedicated to Cargo Space. However the Cargo Space is still labelled as “9” despite its small size.

I should note that several of the grammatical changes suggested by GabrielGABFonseca were not implemented, however for the most part I think both the way the phrases are put in the book and the suggestions offered work so I am fine with them staying the same. I will however agree with GabrielGABFonseca that quotation marks be put around “thinking people” and “us” in the first paragraph of page 35. This should make it slightly easier to understand.

On a request for clarification note, in the Sydites’ characteristic box, on page 26, we have STR + 2 and then it says that working with the upper arms gives STR + 2. Does that mean that if you work with the upper arms you get STR + 4, or does it mean that the original STR + 2 bonus only exists when working with the upper arms.

I apologise for the extreme wordiness of this post. I was trying to be as thorough as possible here. I am also sorry if I missed anything or came across as rude, if I was it was not meant.

Please do not hesitate to let me know if anything I wrote is confusing or ambiguous. I will hopefully attempt to clarify myself.

I thank you for your time.

Edit: I forgot to check something before the original post and so I have now added a new comment.

Edit 2: Got a fellow commenter's name wrong, for which I apologise. I have now corrected it.
 
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We have spoken about this in the past but, in a nutshell and as things stand, this is a compatibility issue between PDFs and iOS. We have found ways round this but every time Apple update something, everything resets. If you try Adobe's free PDF reader on your iOS device, you should find things work.

This is an annoying issue right now, and we are hoping Apple comes up with something more permanent.
I have mentioned at twice on this forum how to fix this.

The solution for customers is what Matt said: use the official Adobe reader. On iOS use the Files app to locate your book, press and hold , choose SHARE and choose the Adobe app.

(You can view stuff on the Abobe app without subscribing to it.)

This tells you that the pdf file is correct as far as Adobe are concerned. The issue is Apple's rendering when you use its internal file viewers.

The solution is for the publisher is to make sure all the images use the SAME colour profile. You can compare the colour profile (CYMK vs RGB). that was used for the images that display well, and make sure you apply that to the ones that are greyed out.
 
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I have mentioned at twice on this forum how to fix this.

The solution for customers is what Matt said: use the official Adobe reader. On iOS use the Files app to locate your book, press and hold , choose SHARE and choose the Adobe app.

(You can view stuff on the Abobe app without subscribing to it.)

This tells you that the pdf file is correct as far as Adobe are concerned. The issue is Apple's rendering when you use its internal file viewers.

The solution is for the publisher is to make sure all the images use the SAME colour profile. You can compare the colour profile (CYMK vs RGB). that was used for the images that display well, and make sure you apply that to the ones that are greyed out.
That might explain why some images show, and others don’t. The color profile match
 
We have spoken about this in the past but, in a nutshell and as things stand, this is a compatibility issue between PDFs and iOS. We have found ways round this but every time Apple update something, everything resets. If you try Adobe's free PDF reader on your iOS device, you should find things work.

This is an annoying issue right now, and we are hoping Apple comes up with something more permanent.
Just a thought, but if the issue is between Apple and pdf, shouldn’t every pdf file behave incorrectly then?

The issue is very recent, last two or so books only.

Every prior product works perfectly.
 
Nah, there were complaints about older pdfs too. Apparently, Mongoose keeps making changes that work until an IOS patch makes them stop working again.
 
I don't use apple so I don't have this problem. But I've seen complaints about this issue on a lot of pdfs from Mongoose. It's probably more problematic with the newer stuff with the better quality art.
 
Just a thought, but if the issue is between Apple and pdf, shouldn’t every pdf file behave incorrectly then?

The issue is very recent, last two or so books only.

Every prior product works perfectly.
It was a well-known issue from around iOS12 (2018?). I have come across other the occasional pdf textbook with the same problem.
You could argue that Apple should address it before we die of old age, but actually they are not really responsible for every 3rd-party format, especially since all you need to do is load the proper reader and the problem is completely solved.

As I said, Mongoose could try and address it their end by making sure images are consistent and do not use CMYK format. They would dabble in that format for printing the hard copy, so that is why I am certain that is the problem. And because I have seen it solve the problem for other published material, including my own.
 
As I said, Mongoose could try and address it their end by making sure images are consistent and do not use CMYK format. They would dabble in that format for printing the hard copy, so that is why I am certain that is the problem. And because I have seen it solve the problem for other published material, including my own.
The sector and subsector maps at least are done in CMYK.
 
All the maps and some artwork shows properly for me.

If it helps narrow down the issues and find a solution, I can do a page by page rundown of which images show and which don’t?

Approx half the aliens show, everything from the high guard chapter, half of the ship exteriors. I know what the Abysm looks like but it’s shuttles are just shadows
 
Right then, I'm now all the way up to the Gateway Sector chapter proper, so instead of wrapping up the book, I'll report the things I've found in-between my last post and now.
(Once again, I'll add a [?] if I'm not sure an entry is or isn't a mistake)
  • Page 50, 'The Akeena Union', 2nd paragraph: 'Trade with the Two Thousand Worlds is considerable, going by way of Crisis Margin sector or even through the territory of the Lords of Thunder' - The name of Crucis Margin sector has a typo.
  • Page 52, 1st paragraph: The name Crucis Margin is lacking capitalisation on 'margin'.
  • Page 56, General Products[?]: 'General Starships Ley' is introduced, but the next sentence uses the acronym 'GPL' to address (presumably) it. Is this intended?
  • Page 63, 2nd paragraph: 'It has a greater than usual complement of small patrol craft than usual and a few destroyers.' - redundant phrasing.
  • Page 66, 3rd paragraph: 'Their main opponents are the Sharurshid and Tukera megacorporation.' - Either the word 'megacorporation' should be pluralised, or the phrase changed to 'Their main opponents are Sharurshid and the Tukera megacorporation.'
  • Page 88, Subsector Map: On the rightmost column all hex index numbers after 2414 get stuck as '2414' as well.
  • Page 89, 1st paragraph: 'The subsector has four high population worlds and is a major consumer of goods.' - As per the listing on page 87, only one world in this subsector is a Hi world. If meant to also include the Traveller 5 'Pre-High Population' worlds, then the sector has five 'high population' worlds (New G'dansk, Sunset, Hagim, Khimudire, and Kimu).
  • Page 102, 5th paragraph: 'These high-status individuals generally communicate although cutouts and proxies, (...)' - surely supposed to be 'communicate through cutouts and proxies'?
  • Page 104, 1st paragraph: The gap separating the Imperium and Khuur League is three 'parsecs wide for most of its length', not two. Supported in-text on page 108 and by the sector map itself.
  • Page 105, Subsector Map: Rightmost column has a similar issue as to the one on page 88.
  • Page 118, 'The Imperial Colonial Office', 3rd paragraph: 'For example, ICO might provide finding and assistance (...)' - Am 95% sure the ICO might provide funding, not 'finding'.
  • Page 122, last paragraph: 'Ideally, the Hivers can work although third or even fourth parties, persuading others (...)' - through third or fourth parties, not although.
  • Page 139, 'Conflict on Tarakan', 1st paragraph: 'These are in equipped with locally produced weaponry and (...)' - That 'in' should probably be out of that sentence.
I'll read up the rest of the book and probably do one more report/post after I've compiled the remaining things I notice.

Fly Free! 07
 
Had a look in the new & updated version.
Are the sketch-style ship drawings on the faction pages of the High Guard chapter new? I like them!

Can’t wait to enlist upon an Abysm and set off on a belting & exploration cruise, perhaps a small flotilla supported by a Torcon!

Stat block for Abysm on p.205 still says J-2 x2, despite description and listed fuel being enough for J-2 x1.

Obviously my expedition ship will have one of each shuttle, and I noticed today that the Jiydyce mining shuttle has a laboratory on its deckplan (4), squeezed in between the two cargo holds, in way the description suggested would be a singe open space.

The cargo crane seems a bit over-engineered, unless it’s supposed to be used for towing ore? It can handle 150 dtons!

The Beckann class super freighter still has the huge area 14 marked as full hangar on the deck plan, whereas the gigantic cargo hold that encompasses 60% of the ship is relegated to the relatively small location 9.

Has perhaps fuel and location 14 accidentally swapped places? Would match their respective tonnage better..?
 
Right! I've finally finished my read/reviewing of The Trailing Frontier and, I've got to say, what an astounding book! Martin J. Dougherty really knows how to write a good one. Anyway, as promised, here's my final(?) batch of revision notes for the book. I'm splitting this into two sections: general notes, and High Guard notes. Unfortunately, there were quite a few mistakes with the ships this time around.

Anyway, following the usual convention of having a [?] on entries I'm not sure are a mistake or not:
  • Page 13, 'Imperial Consolidation', 1st paragraph: The Julian War lasted from 175 to 191, not from 191-5 (See The Third Imperium, Pg.: 10, 62 & 79).
  • Page 173, 'The Gateway Legion', 1st paragraph: 'Even those who know the scale of the LSG presence in may not be aware of its combat capabilities.'; that 'in' certainly shouldn't be there.
  • [?] Pages 176 & 177, 'Basternevis': The third paragraph is written as if the first paragraph does not exist, leading to a somewhat uncohesive description.
  • Page 178, 2nd paragraph: 'The Galian Federation, Trindel Confederacy and Viyard Concourse all court the Faar as allies and trading partners,= but none have achieved much of an advantage.'; delete extraneous '='.
  • Page 180, 'Indolence', 1st paragraph: '(...) what is known about the phenomenon comes from background of a particularly lurid interstellar drama popular a century ago.' missing a 'the' between 'comes from' and 'background of'.
That concludes it for the non-High Guard parts of the text! Now onto the serious business...

  • Page 198, 'Halklar Savasci Fighter': The thrust time of the R-Drive is incorrectly calculated; An R-Drive uses fuel equal to 2.5% of the ship's tonnage per thrust, per hour. The Halklar Savasci therefore consumes (5 * 2.5%) * 10 = 1.25 tons of fuel per hour of full thrust. Its R-Drive has the modification Fuel Efficient x2 - Fuel Efficient R-Drives require 20% less fuel than normal, and modifiers are additive (see High Guard 2022, Page 71), for a total reduction of 40%. Therefore, the Halklar Savasci consumes 1.25 * (1 - 0.4) = 0.75 tons of fuel per hour of full thrust. Therefore, its fuel capacity of 0.675 tons of fuel actually gives it 0.675/0.75 = 0.9 hours of fuel, or 54 minutes (equal to 9 space combat rounds).

  • Page 201, 'Karmun Rift Trader':
    • 'Weapons' entry: 'Double Turret (beam laser, sandcaster)' missing the 'x2' it should have (see tonnage, price, and blueprints)
    • Crew Compliment: Based on High Guard 2022 (Pg.: 23), the crew compliment of this ship should be Captain (optional), Pilot, Astrogator, Engineers x3, Gunners x4, Steward, Medic, not 'Engineers x5, Gunners x2' (note total crew count is unchanged).
    • Page 202, Blueprint: The illustration shows two armed turrets at the top of the ship; suggest changing the clearly empty turret icon (which should be labelled 18 - Turret Mounting) from the top deck to be one of the three turrets on the bottom deck. Entry 20 should be relabelled to specify this turret contains the Beam Laser and Sandcaster.
  • Page 205, 'Abysm' Deeps Space Operations Vessel:
    • 'M-Drive' Entry: The mass of the DSMS is incorrect; Deepnight Revelation Book 2: Campaign Guide (Pg.: 33) states that at TL11, a DSMS 150% of the tonnage of its associated M-Drive. The Abysm-class' DSMS should therefore be 1.5 * 40 = 60 tons in size.
    • 'Fuel Tanks' Entry:
      • The 'J-2' should not have a 'x2' associated with it; It carries 400 tons of fuel onboard (J-2) and the Fuel/Cargo Modules give it J-2 x2 capability; Listing it as 'J-2 x2' is erroneous as it'd entail adding an extra 400 tons of fuel ontop of the Fuel/Cargo module tonnage.
      • 8 Weeks of Operation would require 42 tons of fuel, not '24' as currently listed.
    • 'Cargo' Entry: Correction of the above makes it so the remaining cargo space is 60 tons.
    • Purchase Cost: The Purchase Cost should be MCr610.86
    • Maintenance Cost: Maintenance Cost should be Cr50905/month
    • Power:
      • Suggestion: Note should be made that the M-Drive's 1200 power consumption occurs when engaged on Deep Space Manoeuvring; normal flight requires only 300 power.
      • The Systems power consumption is not 12, but actually (Fuel Processors 20) + (UNREP System 5) + (Low Berths 1) = 26 Power
    • Deck Plans (Page 206): Entry 4 should read 'Low Berths'.
  • Page 209, 'Collmen Prospecting Shuttle':
    • Bridge: A small bridge costs half the price of a full bridge (High Guard 2022, Pg.: 19), so this bridge's price should be MCr0.25, not 0.5
    • Systems: Mining Drones are a TL12 item (HG2022, Pg.: 54) and therefore technically illegal on this ship; ship's TL needs to be raised from 11 to 12.
    • Cargo: Cargo capacity is 6.6, not '6.7'.
    • Purchase Cost: Purchase Cost should be MCr31.85
    • Maintenance Cost: Maintenance Cost should be Cr2654/month
    • Power:
      • Weapons power consumption is 5, not '8' (Laser Drill consumes 4 power, see HG2022 Pg.: 28, single turret consumes 1 power).
      • Systems should consume 1 power (UNREP System), not 0.
  • Page 210, 'Jiydyce Mining Shuttle':
    • Systems: Mining Drones are a TL12 item (HG2022, Pg.: 54) and therefore technically illegal on this ship; ship's TL needs to be raised from 11 to 12.
    • Cargo: Cargo capacity is 23.8, not '23.9'.
    • Purchase Cost: Purchase Cost should be MCr21.03
    • Maintenance Cost: Maintenance Cost should be Cr1752.5/month
    • Power:
      • Weapons power consumption is 5, not '8' (Laser Drill consumes 4 power, see HG2022 Pg.: 28, single turret consumes 1 power).
      • Systems should consume 1 power (UNREP System), not 0.
  • Page 213, 'Torcon Core Module':
    • Systems: 2000 Ton ships (like the Torcon's modules) use Type IV Docking Clamps, not Type V (HG2022, Pg.: 57), and therefore this system's tonnage should be 60 and its price MCr12.
    • Staterooms: The ships does not have enough staterooms (24) to comport the entire listed crew (69) even with total double occupancy. A minimum of 35 staterooms are required, raising stateroom tonnage to 140 tons and price to MCr17.5
    • Cargo: Needs reassessment due to the above.
    • Purchase Cost: Needs reassessment due to the above.
    • Maintenance Cost: Needs reassessment due to the above.
    • Crew: The listed crew requirements is missing 2 Administrators (1 per 2000 tons of ship) and 3 Officers (1 per 20 full crew), see HG2022 Pg.: 23.
  • Page 216, 'Torcon Mining Module':
    • I'll be real with you, I haven't had the energy to go through this one yet but I think it stands a revision too given the above.
  • Page 221, 'Revonis Galian Cruiser':
    • Armour: The listed tonnage and price are for Titanium Steel, Armour: 6, not 'Titanium Steel, Armour: 9' as listed.
    • Crew Compliment: The listed crew compliment is grossly understaffed, missing more than half the required Engineers, two thirds of the required Maintenance, three-quarters of the Gunners, three Medics, eight Administrators and 11 Officers, not to mention the complete absence of Sensops and the ship's Troopers. The correct listing should be: Captain, Pilots x3, Astrogator, Engineers x28, Maintenance x18, Gunners x128, Administrators x9, Sensops x3, Medics x4, Officers x19, Marines x80
    • Staterooms: The above requires an increase in the numbers of Standard Staterooms; I suggest doubling it to 120, as this would match the already-existing 120 tons of Common Areas and adhere to the '1 ton of Common Areas per Stateroom' rule-of-thumb.
    • Cargo: With the above modification, it'll become 716 tons.
    • Purchase Cost: With the above modification, it'll become MCr3028.5
    • Maintenance Cost: With the above modification, it'll become Cr252375/month
    • Power:
      • Weapons consume 760 power, not 780.
      • Systems consume 509 power, not 1009 (Recovery Deck consumes only 1 power per ton, HG2022 Pg.: 63)
  • Page 227, 'SU-40 Gunship':
    • Fuel Tanks: Fuel should take up only 1 ton, not 1.25
    • Cargo: Due to the above cargo should be 17.
    • Purchase Cost: Purchase Cost should be MCr15.675
    • Maintenance Cost: Maintenance Cost should be Cr1306/month
  • Page 230, 'Sapphire Gunship-Equipped Merchant':
    • M-Drive: Tonnage and Price are double what they should be for a 2800 ton ship; it should be 56 tons and MCr112
    • Computer: Computer/20 is a TL12 component; need to be downgraded to Computer/15.
    • Weapons: Missile Barbette tonnage (but not price) is listed as double what it should be, 60 against the correct 30 tons.
    • Cargo: Due to the above cargo should be 247 tons.
    • Purchase Cost: Due to the above Purchase Cost should be MCr686.15
    • Maintenance Cost: Due to the above Maintenance Cost should be Cr57179/month
  • Page 234, 'Megusard Meson Emplacement':
    • Due to lack of energy, has not been revised; probably bears closer scrutiny as well.
  • Page 239, 'Piriamon Multirole Vessel':
    • J-Drive: The ship's Jump Drive Mounting should be 20 tons (what is required for a J-1 600 Ton ship), not the listed 30.
    • Cargo: Due to the above Configurable Space and Cargo should be 395.
    • Maintenance Cost: Typeface is incorrect.
    • Power: Missing Systems power entry (2 from UNREP System).
  • Page 242, 'Meccah Utility Vessel':
    • J-Drive: A Jump Drive has a minimum tonnage of 10 tons (HG2022, Pg.: 16), unless the Size Reduction attribute is used (HG2022, Pg.: 71). Tonnage should therefore be 10 and price MCr15.
    • Systems: The Fuel Scoop that comes free with Streamlined hulls is not listed.
    • GENERAL: The ship requires a redesign in order to match the description box stating that 'Cargo capacity is officially rated at 12 tons (...)'; I suggest shrinking the cargo areas from the current 12 down to 9, therefore leaving 11.9 tons of cargo. Purchase and Maintenance Costs would become MCr59.36 and Cr4946/month respectively.
  • Page 245, 'Beckann Superfreighter':
    • Weapons: Point Defence Turret price is incorrect; 30 point-defence turrets armed with point-defence lasers (MCr0.25 + MCr0.25) should cost MCr15, not MCr30 as listed.
    • Systems: Workshop missing 'x2'.
    • Crew Compliment: The listed crew complement does not have enough gunners for all the turrets, and some other positions were rounded up rather than down. The listing should be Captain, Pilot, Astrogator, Engineers x60, Maintenance x26, Gunners x33, Administrators x13, Sensops x3, Medic, Officers x7, Manufacturing Crew x50, Reginery Crew x5.
    • Purchase Cost: Purchase Cost should be MCr6001.86
    • Maintenance Cost: Maintenance Cost should be Cr500155/month
    • Power: Systems should consume 487 power Medical Bay 2 + Commercial Zone 1 + Manufacturing Plant 200 + Mineral Refinery 200 + UNREP 20 + Residential Zone 52 + Low Berths 12 = 487.
  • Page 248, '400-Ton Orbital Defence Platform':
    • Weapons: Missile Barbettes missing 'x3'
    • Armoured Bulkheads: Barbettes + Storage bulkheads wrongly calculated, should be 1.5 tons and MCr0.3 for the barbettes and 3 tons and MCr0.6 for the missile stores, for a total of 4.5 tons and MCr0.9
    • Cargo: Cargo should be 71.3
    • Purchase Cost: Purchase Cost should be MCr80.45
    • Maintenance Cost: Maintenance Cost should be Cr6704/month


WEW!
That took me quite literally three hours to type. That should, however, conclude my notes for revision on the book! If I do spot anything else I'll point it out, but that should be all of the mistakes, I hope.
 
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