kanisatha

Artemis I is a go for tomorrow morning. A whole heck of a lot is riding on this launch, including whether we stay ahead of the Chinese in this second space race: https://www.nasa.gov/specials/artemis-i/ It's the most powerful rocket humans have launched since the Skylab Saturn V shot in 1973. 8.8 million pounds of thrust at launch, and hauling 154,000 pounds to the moon. YEE-HAW!!

Didn't Sawyer confirm they struggled with getting that dungeon done right? I remember during the kickstarter feeling very worried as the dungeon kept getting bigger and bigger.

I have to agree with you here that *some* of the writing in PoE1 was needlessly excessive. But for me that was specific to Chris Avellone's writing. He is the one who tended to throw up walls of text everywhere, and for some strange reason people seem to be taken up by this as representing *awesome* writing. I find Avellone's writing pedantic, pompous, and boring. Remove Avellone's writing from PoE1 and the problem goes away (effectively what we had in PoE2).

It's interesting you bring this up because in my more recent times playing BG1 I've never actually finished the game, always getting bored with it at some point after I get to BG city. I typically play on normal difficulty, though am perfectly happy to drop it down whenever something aggravates me.

Hey thanks! Everything you say here is exactly how I feel also and are my preferences as well. Even when it comes to playing Civ, I play exclusively by using the game options to make myself the only civ on the map and play purely against myself to build the most efficient empire I can. I too have no interest in the military/political/extermination elements of Civ, and only in "perfectly" placing my cities and then building them up (until that gets boring).

Like me you seem to have a love for these kinds of city-management games, so let me ask you a question. I've tried out quite a few of these games: Dawn of Man, Patron, Settlers, Surviving Mars, and of course Civilization (and on my wishlist: Old World, Kingdoms Reborn, Terraformers). The problem for me with these games always is that I love how they start out, and love the early turns in the game. But eventually, at some point in the development of my settlement, the job of managing the city becomes a painful, repetitive chore and I lose my interest in further developing my city. For all the many times I've played these games, I've never once finished a single game. So, is there some secret to getting around this problem? Are there any city management games that have successfully overcome this problem?

It's on my wishlist, but I won't consider buying it until it exits EA so any feedback on it would be appreciated.

Based off of what I read on our military preparedness, including both academic/think-tank and journalistic sources. There are plenty of analyses out there on such things as widespread obesity in the ranks, inability of the military to find enough recruits and so standards being lowered/ignored (off the record) so that quotas may be filled, merit being practically nonexistent and politics driving command promotions, and soldier surveys showing that service is not among the main reasons young people nowadays join the military.

Yes it does also apply to China. But in China's case such things as poor training, poor logistics, and general incompetence of soldiers are already factored into US analyses of Chinese capabilities. But our spin on our own soldiers is that they are "awesome," and I'm quite certain many in the Pentagon have bought into their own spin and propaganda. So it's a matter of expectations v. reality. Our expectations of performance for the average Chinese soldier will be low, and this will be matched by reality. Our expectations of performance for the average US soldier will be high, but this will NOT be matched by reality, hence this will be a rude shock.

Good article. Their point about being able to "cheat" yourself during peacetime but then paying the price for it when in war strikes me as being just as relevant to the US as Russia. I believe the average American soldier today is incapable of standing and fighting in any competent form. In peacetime the generals and politicians are able to spin and cover up this reality. But soon war with China is going to happen, and then we the American people are going to be devastatingly shocked to learn of the extent to which our military prowess has been allowed to deteriorate and wither.

^This part I agree with, though none of this has anything to do with Russia or Ukraine. These are all things resulting from bad domestic policy choices and actions.

Aha! Thanks! It's about my CA reference! As someone who has a very minimal online presence and a literally zero SM presence, I often don't get memes and other similar references.

Ok I'm confused by this, or missing something. Did I say something that is equivalent to what this guy is saying?

Russia facing personnel shortage in the east as they desperately try to reinforce the south facing Ukrainian counteroffensive: https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-pushes-attack-south-russia-troop-shortage-east/31963314.html

When it comes to the IE games I guess I'm an outlier here. For me it is: BG1 > BG2 > IwD2 > IwD1 > PsT I know, I know. I'm a herectic. BG1 beats BG2 for me because: (a) It's the very first RPG I ever played, so strong nostalgia; (b) I much prefer low level to high level D&D; (c) I like exploring open areas; and (d) I very strongly prefer melee combat and don't care at all for D&D spellcasting and spell-battles. On the other end of my comparison, I have always had a hard time understanding the attraction of PsT. Firstly, there is the whole bastardized 2e rules and mechanics which I hate. Combat, and especially melee combat, is gawd-awful. And Chris Avellone is the most highly overrated RPG writer of all-time, and I find his writing and his characters to be pedantic, superficial, and boring (including in PoE1). [Please don't flame me ]

My expectation, from following all news sources pretty closely, is that Avowed will release in second half of 2023, and TOW2 in second half of 2024. Obsidian has said they want to release at least one new game each year, starting with Pentiment (and full release of Grounded) this year.

Which is what makes him an ok tank, but not so much a damage dealer. And that's why I cut him whenever I play a tank myself. But my typical PC is a fighter/rogue or a fighter/wizard. I've played BG1 in particular sooooo many times but have yet to play it even once with the canonical party. Now you've got me hankering to give it another go with the canonical party.

I prefer to lock up Khalid in one of those houses in Nashkel while keeping Jaheira in my party. I do the same thing to split up Minsc and his witch. Never liked the idea of killing off any of the BG1/2 companions even when I disliked them.

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!! Jaheira is the BEST! She's the only BG1 companion (besides lil' sis) who I have always had in my party every time I've ever played either game (which is quite a few times).

If your concern about these games is coming from a money/budget standpoint, I wouldn't worry too much about it. If there's anything clear about how MS is managing their game studios it is that they are giving them whatever resources they need to make their games. Not one of MS's studios has complained, or even had rumors coming out, that they are being shortchanged on resources.

https://www.newsweek.com/ukraine-himars-destroy-high-value-russian-targets-1727253

That is just so horrible that he would abandon family like this, especially as the older brother.

Here's an excellent article on current issues in the Ukraine war (and also some coverage of the Iran-Russia connection and lessons for China v. Taiwan. But most importantly, a great assessment of Putin's current mindset about the war (very troubling): https://www.voanews.com/a/us-warns-putin-falling-for-his-own-rhetoric/6667777.html

We all knew this from the beginning, didn't we? How does anyone continue to believe anything any Russian official says on any issue? https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/07/20/world/ukraine-russia-war#russia-ukraine-territory-expansion-lavrov https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-62231936

Russia's war crime (and possible genocide) in abducting hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians: https://www.geopoliticalmonitor.com/russias-mass-abduction-of-ukrainians-explained/ https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/07/13/world/russia-ukraine-war-news