Ukraine Today

[Lord Grindelvald]

I feel compelled to add: Russian economy relies heavily on technological imports. Not just the electronics in the cars that had been mentioned. Everything from machines used in production and resource exploitation, their spare parts to the control and design software, comes from countries that just told it to go sit on a ****.

? I've even seen claims their own local manufacturers got forced out or bypassed, so they don't threaten the existing power structure. ? If that's true, they can't even manufacture the **** they should have been capable of, "just because."
*And I've definitely seen claims of their import substitution schemes being either failures, scams or both, before the invasion.
Add the acute brain drain that the war and sanctions induced, and their land is utterly unexploitable without outside actors, which will do their level best to leave as little as humanly possible for the locals.

“There was an emerging middle class [in Russia] that is now going to be knocked back,” said Christopher Smart, chief global strategist and head of the Barings Investment Institute. “It’s going to be isolated. It’s going to have a currency that doesn’t really hold any value outside the country.”

Foreign policy experts also believe that Russia will default on its sovereign debt when more than $100 million in bond payments come due on Wednesday (today).

Interesting article about the economic situation of Russia and prediction for the following years.

 

[Adorno]

The ICJ has ordered Russia to immediately cease all military activity in Ukraine.
Russia and China voted against.

https://www.icj-cij.org/public/files/case-related/182/182-20220316-PRE-01-00-EN.pdf

 

[Vermillion_Hawk]

Oh no, the International Court of Justice! A meaningless gesture from the most useless branch of the most useless international organization will really show Putin the rest of the world means business!

 

[Mad Vader]

I'm not sure what you enemies of international rule-based order want, but ICC's rulings are to be taken as legal arguments in the future cases that, for example, determine war damage compensation that Ukraine would demand from Russia.
No one expects Putin to cease aggression, but it's perfectly fine to test the legality of it, so the neutrals would have less arguments for being neutral.

 

[Swadius 2.0]

800 Million USD worth of weapons are going to Ukraine from the US.

The Russians are about to find out why the Americans have no universal healthcare.

Spoiler

Fact Sheet on U.S. Security Assistance for Ukraine | The White House

President Biden today announced an additional $800 million in security assistance to Ukraine, bringing the total U.S. security assistance committed to Ukraine to $1 billion in just the past week, and a total of $2 billion since the start of the Biden Administration. The assistance will take the...

www.whitehouse.gov

The new $800 million assistance package includes:

• 800 Stinger anti-aircraft systems;
• 2,000 Javelin, 1,000 light anti-armor weapons, and 6,000 AT-4 anti-armor systems;
• 100 Tactical Unmanned Aerial Systems;
• 100 grenade launchers, 5,000 rifles, 1,000 pistols, 400 machine guns, and 400 shotguns;
• Over 20 million rounds of small arms ammunition and grenade launcher and mortar rounds;
• 25,000 sets of body armor; and
• 25,000 helmets.

In addition to the weapons listed above, previous United States assistance committed to Ukraine includes:

• Over 600 Stinger anti-aircraft systems;
• Approximately 2,600 Javelin anti-armor systems;
• Five Mi-17 helicopters;
• Three patrol boats;
• Four counter-artillery and counter-unmanned aerial system tracking radars;
• Four counter-mortar radar systems;
• 200 grenade launchers and ammunition;
• 200 shotguns and 200 machine guns;
• Nearly 40 million rounds of small arms ammunition and over 1 million grenade, mortar, and artillery rounds;
• 70 High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles (HMMWVs) and other vehicles;
• Secure communications, electronic warfare detection systems, body armor, helmets, and other tactical gear;
• Military medical equipment to support treatment and combat evacuation;
• Explosive ordnance disposal and demining equipment; and
• Satellite imagery and analysis capability.

JEEZUS

 

[Moose!]

Thought this was an interesting analysis. Please stay safe Trueten and Weaver!

 

[Swadius 2.0]

Thought this was an interesting analysis. Please stay safe Trueten and Weaver!

Ah, are you into Dominions as well? His video on Dominions 5 diplomacy was pretty great too. Of all the players in DOminions 5 online multiplayer sphere, I'd say he's probably one of the top people who utlized diplomacy the best. Him winning the majority of his first multiplayer games is a testament to that. Most players who play multiplier barely have 2 wins.

It's good to see his videos trending although I think he might not appreciate that its a video closest to real day job, lol.

His video on multiplayer diplomacy:

 

[Lord Grindelvald]

I'm not sure what you enemies of international rule-based order want, but ICC's rulings are to be taken as legal arguments in the future cases that, for example, determine war damage compensation that Ukraine would demand from Russia.
No one expects Putin to cease aggression, but it's perfectly fine to test the legality of it, so the neutrals would have less arguments for being neutral.

Yup. It also makes it easier for fence sitting countries outside of NATO/EU to stop doing business with Russia. Countries indebted to Russia due to it's foreign infrastructure schemes investments can hide behind the ruling.

 

[Moose!]

Ah, are you into Dominions as well?

That would be an understatement! I play pretty multiplayer regularly with some former forumites on the BoP Discord (Pixel, Grimmend, Curio, plus a few others), sometimes competitively and sometimes in big AI games for fun. It's probably my favorite franchise, at least in terms of hours sunk since I got into it with Dominions 3. We're always looking for new players to switch up the meta, so if you're interested in playing a game let me know!

Agree that Perun makes some great content - unfortunately my diplomacy skills need a lot of work. I'm more of a salty bully a la Putin than a smooth negotiator. Did okay in my first game with random non-forumites, but unfortunately got locked into an unwinnable stalemate and couldn't talk my way out of it, probably because of my tendancy to be a bully.

 

[Vermillion_Hawk]

Dominions is great, diplomacy is easily the worst part of the game. I've enjoyed it since 3 but I try my best to limit my engagement with multiplayer to avoid having to deal with boring meta build hellblesses and equally boring and pathetic people. At least the AI is predictable in usually-fun ways once you crank it up.

I'm not sure what you enemies of international rule-based order want, but ICC's rulings are to be taken as legal arguments in the future cases that, for example, determine war damage compensation that Ukraine would demand from Russia.
No one expects Putin to cease aggression, but it's perfectly fine to test the legality of it, so the neutrals would have less arguments for being neutral.

What I want is an international court that is capable of actually upholding its rulings, and an international organization which is not compromised by actors seeking to undermine the core values it was built upon. I've resigned myself to the fact that this will probably not happen until some global empire manifests into being, in the meantime I fully support the demolition of the UN and the restructuring of NATO.

 

[Moose!]

You're missing out, multiplayer is the best part! To be honest, I don't think going with a hell bless is the meta for most nations (maybe if you're including rainbow blesses, but I've had good games with a variety of builds), but I'm also used to playing Dominions Enhanced so the balance is quite different.

 

[Vermillion_Hawk]

You're missing out, multiplayer is the best part! To be honest, I don't think going with a hell bless is the meta for most nations (maybe if you're including rainbow blesses, but I've had good games with a variety of builds), but I'm also used to playing Dominions Enhanced so the balance is quite different.

I don't like playing mods, so I stick with as vanilla of a game as I can get. The rainbow blesses can be bad as well, to be honest the bless system and diplomacy in concert have mostly killed whatever enjoyment I can get from multiplayer. Don't take a meta pick/meta nation/meta Pretender and as soon as the scout reports come in that you're not running Generic Expansion Monster #3817 or Generic Research God and you haven't got a fully-optimized bless then your neighbours descend like vultures and your land is neatly parcelled off and divided.

I also hate that I'm forced to play dishonourably in order to actually win thanks to diplomacy. In games where I honour my agreements, I end up getting betrayed or accused of having pre-formed alliances or all sorts of other nonsense. My most successful game was when I was neighbouring two people who were obvious in their intentions to betray me, so I sent messages to each telling them that the other was trying to recruit me for an attack on them, leading to them fighting each other and letting me pick up the pieces. At that point I'm not even playing Dominions, I'm playing some grade-school bull**** and it's not what I boot the game up for. It's exhausting dealing with people.

 

[Moose!]

Okay Ringwraith.

 

[Vermillion_Hawk]

Okay Ringwraith.

He had his quirks but he was also pretty perceptive, and I honestly miss his takes on things.

I think there's an issue with a game when external gameplay invalidates large swathes of the game's internal design, but that's just me.

 

[Moose!]

I just think you're overstating the problem - diplomacy is a feature, and I think very much an intended part of the experience. But you should play a game with us sometime if you want if you think the rest of the community is too try hard! Regardless, this thread should go back on topic.

 

[Trueten]

Welp, the old man gone nuts:

Spoiler

Link

The man has never stated any 'ukrainian fascist nazi terror' thing before and left it to the media. But he decided to burst these all russian 'memes' out loud.
And yes, the funny thing Mike Godwin commented it hinting on the very own Godwin's law.

 

[Swadius 2.0]

Dominions is great, diplomacy is easily the worst part of the game. I've enjoyed it since 3 but I try my best to limit my engagement with multiplayer to avoid having to deal with boring meta build hellblesses and equally boring and pathetic people. At least the AI is predictable in usually-fun ways once you crank it up.

Oh yeah I can understand. Dominions diplomacy is just immensely aggressive compared to other games and I'm not sure why. In other free-for-all strategy games, defensive alliances are the rule with the loners being eaten by the big alliances. Add in that a lot of the dominions players, and especially new players, do not always act entirely rational and you've got a mixture for the generation of some serious piles of salt.

That would be an understatement! I play pretty multiplayer regularly with some former forumites on the BoP Discord (Pixel, Grimmend, Curio, plus a few others), sometimes competitively and sometimes in big AI games for fun. It's probably my favorite franchise, at least in terms of hours sunk since I got into it with Dominions 3. We're always looking for new players to switch up the meta, so if you're interested in playing a game let me know!

I bought Dominions 4 a few months before Dominons 5 was released, and I've been waiting for years for Dominions 6 to come out because I still haven't gotten over that.

 

[Mad Vader]

The man has never stated any 'ukrainian fascist nazi terror' thing before and left it to the media. But he decided to burst these all russian 'memes' out loud.

Shall we start listing the Azov battalion (and similar groups') "accomplishments" here or would that ruin the narrative?
The liberal and other Western media got awfully quiet about these embarrassments which are unimaginable in other countries that don't incorporate Nazi militias into their armed forces.

What I want is an international court that is capable of actually upholding its rulings, and an international organization which is not compromised by actors seeking to undermine the core values it was built upon. I've resigned myself to the fact that this will probably not happen until some global empire manifests into being, in the meantime I fully support the demolition of the UN and the restructuring of NATO.

I'm really annoyed by this attitude, which is typical of Americans on the internet, when UN bodies don't follow American interests.
UN and its agencies are a collection of their members, they can't really act on their own against powerful members with veto-powers, nor was it meant to. Other international bodies are also a collection of their members, which is why Americans and Russians typically opt out of them (ICJ and ICC are good examples) and therefore they have limited reach. Nothing can be done about this.
At the same time, international bodies fill a need to maintain some international rules and they do have their own successes, typically against countries and people that are not backed by great powers. This need won't go away if you simply demolish those organizations because they can't get the big bullies.

In short, if you demolish the UN and the likes, you'll quickly find that you need to create new ones. Stop pissing on those organizations just because they have limited capabilities by design. They are the best we've got.

 

[Nodice83]

In short, if you demolish the UN and the likes, you'll quickly find that you need to create new ones. Stop pissing on those organizations just because they have limited capabilities by design. They are the best we've got.

Amen.

Meanwhile... Go Canada!

Spoiler

Spoiler

 

[Horked]

(FYI I have no opinion, only side with the civilian people of Ukranie and Russia, war is a RACKET)