BruceVC

There is so much variation and customization that Arcanum provides around game style, its massive One of the things I came across a lot in my research is that the game is very buggy but so far my only constant bug has been around graphics, I cant ALT-TAB and sometimes I experience these "glitches " where the screen becomes blurred when I run but then when I bring up any menu it goes away Hopefully this maintains. I have no intention of skipping parts of the game through any kind of exploits. Lots to do and explore and lots of Easter egg quests that you find through randomly talking to people Its your quintessential CRPG type design and game

I decided to play Arcanum, its the last CRPG from that era I have never played Im loving it, there is something utterly compelling about these types of isometric games. I have only installed one mod which is UAP Its taken me time to learn the mechanics and skills advancement and whats effective but I'm comfortable with most of whats different about Arcanum Im only 7 hours in but great experience so far, lots of different quests and lore and very little map hand holding which I always prefer because I like to explore

You know what is interesting, I have seen a massive change in support for Trump on Codex because so many people believe Trump is completely controlled by Israel\Jews and the US is now " MIGA "(make Israel great again ) There are the normal anti-Semites and conspiracy theorists that always peddle Jew conspiracy theories which I ignore but then there are real stories and legitimate concerns like the political influence and funding that AIPAC has over Congress on both parties https://theintercept.com/2024/10/24/aipac-spending-congress-elections-israel/ Lobby groups exist and I dont have an issue with them when they open about what they do but I dont think its helpful for any lobby group to have this type of influence on Congress

Okay I see your point, I agree its not clear what the point would be around when does Israel\US attack Iran And it would be extensive airstrikes and not a land invasion but even then what would be the achievable military objectives The general concern is Iran is close enriching Uranium to 90%, its on 60% So the airstrikes would have to be on Iranian sites that are enriching Uranium to prevent this? https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/irans-stock-near-bomb-grade-uranium-grows-sharply-iaea-report-shows-2025-02-26/ "The stock of uranium enriched to up to 60% fissile purity, close to the roughly 90% of bomb grade, has been a long-standing concern for Western powers, which say there is no civil justification for enriching uranium to such a high level. Iran says it seeks only peaceful nuclear energy. While U.S. President Donald Trump's administration has said it plans to pressure Iran over its nuclear programme, the International Atomic Energy Agency has said time is running out for diplomacy to impose new restrictions on Iran's activities. "The significantly increased production and accumulation of high enriched uranium by Iran, the only non-nuclear weapon state to produce such nuclear material, is of serious concern," the International Atomic Energy Agency said in a passage that, unusually, was included in both its quarterly reports on Iran. "

It was stupid for Trump to end the nuclear deal but then have no long-term objective and commitment around "what next " He did this because of pressure from Israel due to other things Iran was doing which wasnt inline with the spirit of the nuclear deal which was about a peaceful Iran going forward One of the factors in Trumps ill-conceived decision was Iran tested ballistic missiles after the nuclear deal was signed so for the protractors of Iran this was "evidence " that Iran was still a military threat for the region in different ways. And this was in contravention to another agreed on UNSC resolution https://www.armscontrol.org/blog/2017-02-01/irans-ballistic-missile-test-troubling-not-cause-provoking-confrontation "Without question, Iran’s decision to continue testing ballistic missiles is unhelpful and inconsistent with the spirit of a key 2015 UN Security Council resolution. But the Trump administration and the Congress should measure their response to Iran’s missile test and refrain from actions that will provoke escalation or unnecessarily endanger the nuclear deal. While Iran’s ballistic missile tests are clearly not a violation of the nuclear deal, these activities are inconsistent with UN Security Council Resolution 2231, which endorsed the agreement and lifted some UN sanctions, but kept in place restrictions on Iran’s ballistic missile activities. Resolution 2231 “calls upon” Iran not to test any ballistic missiles that are “designed to be nuclear capable.” This language is less restrictive than the prior prohibition on missile testing contained in UN Security Council Resolution 1929 (2010), which said that Iran “shall not undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons.” This restriction was replaced by 2231. " But the nuclear deal should have been preserved because its different to Iran having Ballistic missiles Because you now have this current situation, Iran is close to enriching Uranium levels for nukes and we face a possible Israel\US military campaign to exactly prevent Iran getting nukes which was already covered by JCPOA And then different US presidents have different appetites for a war with Iran, its unlikely Israel will find another Trump who will support them in this way and they definitely wont get that support from the Dems

How would nukes be used in an Israel\US war with Iran? Iran doesn't have nukes and the war would be about preventing Iran getting nukes But none of the Sunni Gulf states also want the Iran to get nukes and before the Iranian nuclear deal was agreed all permanent members of the UNSC agreed on sanctions against Iran to stop them getting nukes Thats changed now from a Russian perspective since the invasion of Ukraine and Russia becoming closer to Iran but I doubt even Russia really supports Iran getting nukes

Because of the imminent release of the new Styx game I decided to play Of Orcs and Men Its a simple game but fun. The combat mechanics grow on you, in the beginning I was like " WTF ....this is boring " But it really becomes entertaining, I did end up in most tough battles adopting an effective strategy where Arkail drew the aggro but he was defeated and then Styx run away and let the enemies chase him and then he resurrected Arkail and so the battle continued It looked silly but it worked, sometimes I had to resurrect Arkail 3-5 times

Iran is close to getting nukes And Israel and the US wont allow this. Its been explained many times and most people should be aware of this. A nuclear armed Iran would destabilize the entire ME But it wont be a WW3, that term keeps getting thrown around whenever there is regional war and it seems to be because of sensationalism, misinformation or fearmongering You can only have a WW if the worlds superpowers are fighting each other. A war between Russia and Ukraine or war between Iran and Israel\US is not a WW

Degrees of corruption occur in most countries and these ongoing Serbian protests are about the rampant corruption that Serbia is grappling with I wonder if there would be less corruption in Serbia if they were part of the EU?

@Sarex anything to say?

https://www.axios.com/2025/03/15/us-air-strikes-houthis-yemen The US has initiated a new bombing campaign on the Houthis Its long overdue considering the last 18 months of the Houthis terrorism around attacking ships in the Red Sea and International waters Hopefully the Houthis get the message

I have completed both DLC for W3 after 170 hours and that means sadly my journey into the Witcher world is close to ending, I have now replayed all 3 Witcher games over the last 2 months with mods and the overall experience exceeded my expectations Each game was excellent for different reasons but W3 is still my favourite As far as W3 DLC were concerned, Heart of Stone was fun. I enjoyed killing the Toad King and O'Dimm was one of best enemies I have ever met. I ended up saving Oligierd and beating O'Dimm in the test at the end and I received Iris which is an excellent blade But Blood and Wine was by far one of the best DLC I have ever played, the entire plot with Dettlaff was exciting and very thought provoking around narrative choices. I also like the whole feudal land of Toussaint, there were lots of new quests, monsters and activities I had an interesting set of final outcomes for this DLC which I was happy with considering the reality Dettlaff didnt end up killing Sylvia because of the ribbon Sylvia ended up reconciling with Anna, good fairy tale ending I ended up having to fight Dettlaff, I didnt want to but I had no choice. The hardest battle of any Wither game but Im glad Regis survived because he is one of Geralts real friends Ciri came to visit me and she is doing well as Witcher I highly recommend the entire Witcher series to anyone who likes a strong and enthralling narrative based RPG. The 3 games create this grand, connected story with lots of choices that influence the main narrative. The entire Witcher world with its lore is one of the best gaming franchises out there

Yes that would be part of the peace deal I imagine

Because Putin can claim a ceasefire is a " win " because Ukraine wont join NATO and Russia keeps the Donbas and Crimea Sanction relief will only come once the war is over but Russian will still gain the things I mentioned And Russia will also achieve its objective of extending its geographical border because the annexed parts of Ukraine are now Russian Its not the ideal outcome for Putin, he would prefer to occupy or defeat Ukraine completely and then he doesnt have to make any concessions because they the military winner But this outcome is better for Ukraine than Russia because at least the war ends and Ukraine will preserve 80% of its territory

But why would anyone actually believe that Western sanctions havent hurt the Russian economy? Thats just the expected Russian propaganda and of course the Ruskies would say that because its a part of the misinformation to Russian citizens There have been several Russian comments about the future and around ending Western\US sanctions or an expectation to end sanctions https://theconversation.com/russias-economy-is-stagnating-but-that-wont-force-it-to-end-the-war-251296 Current Russian inflation is on 9.9% and its repo rate is 21% ( Trump ran on " high" US inflation of 3.5 %) Western sanctions dont mean the Russian economy is going to collapse, South Africa during Apartheid had sanctions for decades and our economy never collapsed but it hurt the long-term growth and sustainability of our overall economy There are different types of sanctions but all sanctions take time before you see the impact The Russians definitely want sanction relief despite what some ideologues and propagandists may say

Yes Russia will gain through sanction relief and a new and " better " relationship with the US under Trump But end of the day Ukraine will gain much more from this because the war will end Ukraine will agree not to join NATO and they will accept they have lost Donbas and Crimea but they keep 80% of there country and retain there sovereignty going forward This US proposal is much better than the war continuing where Russia has the ongoing military advantage around attrition and resources

Its different now because its proposed under Trumps new plan for a ceasefire Putin will be under different pressure because according to Trump " he wants peace " I dont think Putin wants peace but Russia can also gain from it like US sanction relief so we may see agreement from the Ruskies

Basically the meeting was progressive and positive These types of meetings are best where Trump\Vance dont have to involved because then it becomes more about a photo-op and media attention The ball is now in Russia's court, I wonder how they will respond?

Yes but I have acknowledged that there would be examples of this type of ethnic payback But the article mentioned is about the future of Syria and its about unity of ethnic groups like the Kurds who were always opposed to Assad, I would assume you want Syria to be united and have a future? This is a positive step but it doesnt ignore the numerous other problems Syria faces "Syria’s Kurds will gain their “constitutional rights” including using and teaching their language, which were banned for decades under Assad. Hundreds of thousands of Kurds, who were displaced during Syria’s nearly 14-year civil war, will return to their homes. Thousands of Kurds living in Syria who have been deprived of nationality for decades under Assad will be given the right of citizenship, according to the agreement."

They do mention the civilians being killed " The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, said 1,130 people were killed in the clashes, including 830 civilians. The Associated Press could not independently verify these numbers. "

https://apnews.com/article/syria-hts-clashes-alawites-sunnis-lattakia-assad-b92c8532c40a3c7105ba32307ffaef48 It looks like Kurds can get on with the "head choppers " and they integrating into the new Syrian army

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy9dp5rr2x9o Tomorrow is a big day for a possible end to the Ukraine conflict The US and Ukraine will be meeting in Saudi Arabia and this will be a significant meeting on the way forward " Soon after the White House row, Zelensky expressed regret about the incident and tried to repair relations with the US - the country's biggest military supplier. Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, later said that Trump had received a letter from Zelensky that included an "apology" and "sense of gratitude Witkoff said that in Saudi Arabia the US team wanted to discuss a "framework" for peace to try to end the Russia-Ukraine war. A major minerals deal - derailed because of the row - is also reported to be back on the agenda in Saudi Arabia. Ukraine has offered to grant the US access to its rare earth mineral reserves in exchange for US security guarantees. "

Last of Us Season 2, it looks excellent. 13 April

This ethnic payback was inevitable considering the thousands of Syrians killed by Assad Its not an expected response when you see the type of carnage that Assad inflicted on Syria People dont forget, look at Rwanda now. The Tutsi will never forget what happened in 1994 and still make regional military decisions based on it

https://www.reuters.com/world/trump-says-he-is-considering-putting-banking-sanctions-tariffs-russia-2025-03-07/ Trumps considering increased sanctions on Russia because of Russia's continued belligerence and ostensible intransigence around supporting a meaningful peace deal " Based on the fact that Russia is absolutely 'pounding' Ukraine on the battlefield right now, I am strongly considering large-scale Banking Sanctions, Sanctions, and Tariffs on Russia until a Cease Fire and FINAL SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT ON PEACE IS REACHED," Trump said. "To Russia and Ukraine, get to the table right now, before it is too late. Thank you!!!"