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#1

Gaming HQ / Re: The Miscellaneous PC & vid...

Last post by Josquius - Today at 03:29:30 PM

I've been playing a game of normal stellaris for the first time in a while.
Went quite well. Almost too easy despite picking the unplugged hard start.
Main challenges were early with consumer goods shortages. Even now late in the game automation doesn't seem to be working well. Not much being build on my planets. I wormer if I've missed turning something on somewhere.

Anyway.
Khan horde forms and goes on a rampage.
They're located in the galactic sw and I'm in the se so they screw over some neighbours letting me sneak steal a few systems.
They meet their end smashing into my citadel system on the border.

L gates open. This is new. And it's friendly nantes. Almost a shame.


Late game and the unbidden show up in a remote corner of my empire. In a completely random system rather than the one with lots of black holes. Hmm.


They look.... Scary. I thought I was strong. I am not. They've so much more fleet power than me.
I'm one or two advances short on the optimal weapons to kill them too.


But.... Rather than advance into my empire around them they head in one direction, take some of my useless border systems and then go straight into the empire next door.
That's good. Gives me time to try and prepare properly. Rebuild ships to kinetics and missiles. Get a titan up and running.

I make plans of where to make my stand. They will eat through this se empire to where on the other side of it I have some territories too. Or maybe loop up to my core worlds?

My star fortress systems connected by gateways should do it with my fleets. They beat the khan.
But.....
The unbidden just keep heading into this other empire.... They leave their portal bordering directly onto my systems and totally undefended.
With all their fleets several jumps away I send over my fleets and close the rift pretty sharpish.


I've still got to mop up those of them who are here.
But they make another unexpected move that makes this easier - they send a bunch of fleets through an l gate. Wipe out the gateway system there but lose their fleet in the process.

Eventually 2 of their fleets does hit one of my fortresses.... It's quite pyric. My star fortress is destroyed and my fleets take heavy casualties. But we win.

#2

Off the Record / Re: Dead Pool 2025

Last post by Sheilbh - Today at 02:28:15 PM

Another Dame - RIP Dame Jilly Cooper Rivals was one of my surprise TV joys last year (and a useful reminder of why Harold Pinter said Danny Dyer was the actor of his generation).

#3

Off the Record / Re: Russo-Ukrainian War 2014-2...

Last post by Valmy - Today at 02:25:23 PM

But the end result whether it's a big air battleship you can't shoot down or a constant never ending swarm of drones... Same same.

Heh. Kind of reminds me of the Incan Torpedo Boat thread.

#4

Off the Record / Re: STAR TREK

Last post by viper37 - Today at 02:20:04 PM

So. 4 1/2 vulcans.

So changing species is just that easy.... And this is never done again?

And vulcan behaviours being genetic rather than something learned?... That flies against canon.

changing species, they keep doing it in all trek series, but it's usually cosmetic surgery.
This is an evolution of the old trick.

Why did La'an go Romulan though. All this time are Romulans not just ancient vulcans but actually vulcan augments?

I'm guessing all the characters behavior is a reference to your previous point, genetic vs learned logic.
Without proper training, logic becomes flawed.  That's why La'an becomes so militaristic, so Romulan, in a way.  She has trouble integrating Vulcan logic with her own emotions.

Flawed episode, like so many this year.

I've read they struggled with the strike this year, had trouble adjusting to the pace.

#5

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

Last post by Sheilbh - Today at 02:14:36 PM

Climate wise I think it's quite recognised France has the best going, with its large temperate north but also with a sizable Mediterranean area and then in between grape friendly terrain.
It can grow basically anything in decent quantities.

Yeah. I think France is the ideal for me. Beer and butter and cream in the North, olives and wine and anchovies in the South, mountains and beaches.

#6

Off the Record / Re: Russo-Ukrainian War 2014-2...

Last post by viper37 - Today at 02:10:47 PM

How would someone in the 1930s have imagined drone warfare taking out economic infrastructure targets hundreds of miles behind enemy lines.

"The drone will always get through"  (?)

No, to damage the enemy at range required costly investment in the manufacture and development of bombers.  The opposite of what is occurring now.

That's still 30-40 million US$ per unit, plus the payload and the support infrastructure.

But they don't have the same purpose anymore.  Drones are more like dive bombers of WWII.

#7

Off the Record / Re: Russo-Ukrainian War 2014-2...

Last post by Josquius - Today at 02:10:18 PM

One thing where I see parallels with pre war thinking about bombers and drones is that so much of this Sci fi didn't think of bombers as these fragile things going on sortees with high casualty rates.
There was a lot more this idea of air battleships that just hovered over cities and destroyed at will (going back before the 30s there, I'm thinking of jules verne in particular maybe). Pilots as these untouchable uber men in the air above.

Which you might say ah but that's even more the complete opposite of drones....

But is it?
Conceptually in the tools it may be.
But the end result whether it's a big air battleship you can't shoot down or a constant never ending swarm of drones... Same same.

#8

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

Last post by Josquius - Today at 02:06:49 PM

Climate wise I think it's quite recognised France has the best going, with its large temperate north but also with a sizable Mediterranean area and then in between grape friendly terrain.
It can grow basically anything in decent quantities.

I suppose on a grand scope of history too that France is top in Europe for spurning it's advantages what with much of European history up until napoleon being about trying to stop French world conquest.

Britain is up there too though, I mean yeah we have to trade for fruit and wine but... That's why god gave us ships and the Portuguese.
And purely looking at the past century or so we've done a lot more to throw away a strong position.

#9

Off the Record / Re: Russo-Ukrainian War 2014-2...

Last post by The Minsky Moment - Today at 02:05:55 PM

No, to damage the enemy at range required costly investment in the manufacture and development of bombers.  The opposite of what is occurring now.

Sort of?

Germany had over 1500 bombers when the war started. By '42 Britain was producing about 5000 bombers a year.  US produced about 50,000 heavy and medium bombers during the war.

The airframes weren't that hard to build.  Finding good pilots and crew is another story; drones have an advantage there.

#10

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

Last post by Grey Fox - Today at 02:01:53 PM

Saying our climate a great positive for Britain is the most depraved thing I've ever seen on Languish.

Well, it's not a bad climate. UK farmers can plant seed when Canada is still covered by feets of snow.