Recent posts

#1

Gaming HQ / Re: Europa Universalis V confi...

Last post by Valmy - Today at 10:39:56 AM

This is not EU4, just building stuff won't give you anything. You have to be able to tax it, and that means a) building things that produce goods that someone will buy and/or use, and b) having control so you can actually tax your population.

Well yeah I at least know that. I only built stuff that supposedly would make money and was in high control areas. But what "profit" means for those buildings is a little opaque. Profit for who? Me?

Though the problem with Lithuania remains that my largest cities (Polotsk and Riga) are neither Lithuanian nor close to Vilnius.

Though it kind of messes with my mind that 230 km is a vast politically significant distance. 

#2

Off the Record / Re: Brexit and the waning days...

Last post by Tamas - Today at 09:19:04 AM

Sensible or not, it will fail it's ultimate objective. People who are bothered by immigration are bothered by immigrants not illegal ones specifically, they are just a good target either because they really think most of the new coloured faces are illegals, or because they feel allowed to speak against them.

But the number of brown people in the street won't decrease by this so it will not be deflating Reform. Quite the contrary because now both Reform and Labour are talking about immigration as The Issue.

They won't be able to out reform Reform.

Having said all that, I think it is fair to say that immigration is perceived as a problem to varying degrees by a now-critical amount of people (otherwise Reform wouldn't be this strong, simply). Conceding that field to them and just ignoring is probably the wrong idea at this stage.

But yeah, trying to be half as draconian as Farage promises (ha-ha) to be seems like a carbon-copy of the Tory strategy around Brexit - flaff about with half-arsed "solutions" not making a clear stance either pro or against.

Either they need to be positive about the immigration numbers (a tough sell I am sure) or do something that hinders Reform's ability to thematise properly: IDK, say "under the Tories we had record numbers of people coming in. This is a great potential for our country but it's also a short-term challenge. We are putting a practial full stop on immigration for a 5-year period while we catch up our infrastructure". Or something.

I don't know. It feels futile to try and avoid PM Farage, it is pre-ordained like Johnson or Trump was - too much the embodiment of English zeitgeist not to rule the country.

#3

Off the Record / Re: Brexit and the waning days...

Last post by Tamas - Today at 09:10:30 AM

I can see why people find the Right more comforting - no discussions or arguments in the open, gives you the illusion of things going swimmingly.

Reading daily news that have standards yet craves controversy for clicks, like the Guardian, is very exhausting.

"Reeves is rumoured to be raising income tax, this is really bad according to a lot of people"
"Reeves won't be raising the income tax, this is really bad according to a lot of people"
"Labour isn't tackling immigration so Reform is surging, this is really bad according to a lot of people"
"Labour is trying to address immigration, this is really bad according to a lot of people"
"We don't build anything, this is really bad according to a lot of people"
"Somebody almost built something, this is really bad according to a lot of people, luckily somebody else intervened in time"

#4

Off the Record / Re: TV/Movies Megathread

Last post by Sheilbh - Today at 08:09:39 AM

No, he was like the rest of the communists of that time.  Against WW2 when Germany was allied with the Soviets, pro-war when they weren't.

Ah gotcha.

Yeah. It's a bit like Woody Guthrie's machine for killing fascists that was out of order 1939-41.

#5

Off the Record / Re: TV/Movies Megathread

Last post by Tamas - Today at 07:43:28 AM

I've only learned from a random Reddit thread I stumbled upon, that I am eligible for Barclays Premium which shall give me free Apple TV+. Nice. Switched over in Barclays, waiting for some info on the Apple TV thing.

I've had that a while now. It's basically apple for £5 then there's the higher interest savings account.

I've also recently switched an account into Lloyd's premium thing to get £200 free. Though once there apparnelty it costs nothing if you shift £2000 a month in and out and there's free Disney + promised.

Wait what, is there a charge?

#6

Off the Record / Re: TV/Movies Megathread

Last post by celedhring - Today at 07:12:03 AM

In Trumbo it 's John Wayne who sticks up for the blacklisted writer.

He ruined the lives of many others. The writer of High Noon comes to mind.

He was a POS that would sadly fit perfectly in the current era.

I read that Trumbo wrote a book defending the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact and turned people in to the FBI who tried to buy his anti-war book during the war.

Wait...what are you saying here? He wrote the book as a sting to find anti-war people?

He stopped publishing Johnny Got His Gun once the US entered the war. He got letters (some, he alleged, anti-semitic in nature) asking for the book, and he reported them to the FBI.

#7

Off the Record / Re: TV/Movies Megathread

Last post by Josquius - Today at 06:37:23 AM

I've only learned from a random Reddit thread I stumbled upon, that I am eligible for Barclays Premium which shall give me free Apple TV+. Nice. Switched over in Barclays, waiting for some info on the Apple TV thing.

I've had that a while now. It's basically apple for £5 then there's the higher interest savings account.

I've also recently switched an account into Lloyd's premium thing to get £200 free. Though once there apparnelty it costs nothing if you shift £2000 a month in and out and there's free Disney + promised.

#8

Gaming HQ / Re: Europa Universalis V confi...

Last post by Solmyr - Today at 02:48:48 AM

This is not EU4, just building stuff won't give you anything. You have to be able to tax it, and that means a) building things that produce goods that someone will buy and/or use, and b) having control so you can actually tax your population.

#9

Gaming HQ / Re: Europa Universalis V confi...

Last post by Richard Hakluyt - Today at 02:48:29 AM

I've played a few hours of Holland and thought I was doing well, weathered the plague, but then descended into repeated bankruptcies during the Hook and Cod Wars.  Which is apropos, but I'm sure I've also misplayed the trade and economic settings. 

What are the "keep this automated" buttons everyone is still using?

I formed the Netherlands, starting as Brabant, and set up a new market in the Netherlands. I have been raising opinion  using diplomats and have opened 644 levels of overseas trade offices. The consequence is that my trade income is 50% of the total income and 3/4 of that trade income is earned outside my own market, For things like paper, cloth etc I only tend to build when there is a shortage (we just don't have enough people to be a manufacturing powerhouse). So, it seems, for the Netherlands always go commercial.

I really wish I could take Flanders but it is a French vassal and those guys are monsters!!!

#10

Gaming HQ / Re: Europa Universalis V confi...

Last post by Valmy - Today at 02:08:04 AM

I've played a few hours of Holland and thought I was doing well, weathered the plague, but then descended into repeated bankruptcies during the Hook and Cod Wars.  Which is apropos, but I'm sure I've also misplayed the trade and economic settings. 

What are the "keep this automated" buttons everyone is still using?

There are little gear symbols by things. If you click on them a little circle appears in the center and that means it is automated.

Though in my Lithuania game it looks like my neighbors are building a lot more things and I am and I am starting to distrust the AI...so I built a lot of things but now my balance is going negative for mysterious reasons so maybe the AI was right to not build things. I don't know.