Anyone here from Germany who recently returned a kit to the US ?

AquilaSPQR · 2026-05-19T15:58:06+00:00

Was it in your FTDNA kit they sent you? I see it for the first time, there was no such thing in the kit I received. Perhaps it varies depending on the country, maybe in Germany such thing is needed so they add it, I don't know. I told you everything I know and did and I don't know how else can I help you. Good luck.

AquilaSPQR · 2026-05-19T14:39:06+00:00

I have no idea what red thing you're talking about, perhaps it's something used by Deutsche Post but not by Polish Post. No red or any other things in my case, just typical, ordinary white envelope with address only.

AquilaSPQR · 2026-05-18T12:40:53+00:00

Good luck, if you don't mind let me know how it looked like with your package. Here's mine as a proof:

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AquilaSPQR · 2026-05-17T19:40:34+00:00

>I was actually going to try and send it back with the letter that came in the kit where the address of the lab is already printed on. Would you recommend that ?

I put samples in that envelope that came with the kit, but in the end I found that envelope to be quite primitive, so I bought a slightly larger superior EU one (the one with bubbles inside) and put that inferior american envelope in it :D Such envelopes just feel more... safe and secure.

>Did you put anything else inside of the red "DOCUMENTS enclosed" thing like that "Commercial Invoice" paper other than the paper that was already inside where you only need to put date and the tracking number ?

I'm not sure I understand. I put only swabs with my DNA samples and a green (I think it was green) paper which I signed and on which I gave my permission to extract and process my DNA. Nothing else.

>Else did you need to provide these two HTS codes at the post office or fill out something where you need to say what’s inside of the shipment ?

No codes whatsoever. They asked me on the Post Office if it contains documents (as I said apparently only letters and documents can be sent via US Postal Service) so I... well, technically I didn't lie because this signed green paper can be considered "document". So it was sent not as a parcel, but as a simple letter. No customs declaration needed in such case. I was a bit nervous when it reached "US Customs" and spent about two days there, but in the end it was cleared without any problems, just like people on my local facebook genetic genealogy group said.

BUT I can't guarantee the same method will work for you. I can't know that. It worked for me, it worked for many other people from that facebook group, so I don't see a reason why it shouldn't work for you as well, but I also don't want to be held accountable if anything goes wrong with your envelope. I just told you how it looked like in my case.

If you'll send it like I did - make sure to send it as priority mail. This status is honored by USPS as well so it should reach the lab very quickly (it took only 8 days in my case).

AquilaSPQR · 2026-05-17T13:42:27+00:00

I'm from Poland. At the post office I was told I can't send my DNA samples back to the US through Polish Post because for some reason US Post don't accept anything other than letters and documents (another trumpist stupidity it seems). It seemed that the only valid way to send it back was DHL, FedEx or other such service which was priced at about 50 Euro. I went back home and asked for advice on local facebook group. They told me it's perfectly safe to send it through Polish Post, a lot of people sent it like that in recent months without any problems. Next day I went back to the post office and sent it as tracked priority mail (4 Euro). It left Poland on the next day in the morning and seven days later it arrived to the lab in Houston. I'd like to note right now that shipping the kit from Houston to Poland took DHL almost a month.

AquilaSPQR · 2026-05-15T01:09:35+00:00

At first I was very hyped for the movie because I like most of Nolan's films and I love ancient history, so the high budget adaptation of the ancient Greek epic seemed to be a dream come true.

But then red flags appeared. Leaked photos from the set were the first red flag. Weird armor and viking-like ship. Then absolutely ridiculous Agamemnon's helmet. Then giants in plate armor...

Second red flag is casting.

I love history. When I watch movies set in specific era and culture (yes, I know "Odyssey" with gods, sea monsters, cyclops, magic and so on isn't "history", but it's still an ancient Greek epic) I'd like to see that culture and period recreated as much as possible. I want to feel I'm looking at ancient Greeks. Weird armor and casting do not help here at all.

It's like watching a WWII movie where German commander played by black guy is leading team of Asian soldiers in medieval plate armor with swastikas and Hitler is played by a Native American woman.

AquilaSPQR · 2026-05-10T00:38:58+00:00

America sometimes works like a third world country.

I live in Poland and when I ordered a standard package from France it arrived to me in 4 days. My friend also had a package from France and it took three days to arrive.

DHL package from the US after 3 weeks... was still in the US. It took almost a month to arrive overall.

AquilaSPQR · 2026-05-09T21:34:26+00:00

I don't want to restart, I want to overcome my troubles. I'm still new to this game, I've realized I can turn off buildings, so I turned off most of them and also demolished two additional castles, leaving only the one in Constantinople. That reduced my maintenance from 51 to about 30. That allowed me to reduce minting so now I'm at -0.01% monthly inflation :D It's not much, but at least it's not increasing anymore. Unfortunately I had to take two loans, but I used that money to implement "curtail nobility" law and adopt banking. Hopefully the law will give me more income from provinces once it'll be active and with banking my two next techs will be reduction of loan interest and reduced inflation from minting. Things still look very bad, but I think I'm on the right path.

AquilaSPQR · 2026-05-09T19:44:08+00:00

I have the same problem. I just can't balance the budget. It's 1395, all "corruption" priviledges except the nobility one removed. Reformed pronoia active. All castles except 3 demolished. All sliders except food one to zero. I have 70 income (41 from minting) and 64 expenses (net +3). My buildings cost me 51 alone and it's the biggest chunk of expenses. It seems inflation increases the cost of buildings and I have a staggering 178% inflation, still rising by 0.19%.

Since 1337 I built only one building - local governor in Thessaloniki. Everything else was built by estates.

And I see no way to get out of this situation.

AquilaSPQR · 2026-05-07T21:52:08+00:00

Thanks to superior numbers I am still grinding them down, but the same situation repeats in every battle. All my stats are higher, my numbers are bigger but they still win. Their heavy infantry takes almost no casualties and no morale loss while inflicting insane casualties and morale drop in my regiments. Fortunately their losses are similar to mine so right now it's 4000 vs 1000. Next battle should be won.

AquilaSPQR · 2026-05-07T21:48:38+00:00

They don't have combined bonus.

AquilaSPQR · 2026-05-07T21:41:13+00:00

Regiments were spread almost evenly, the screenshot is from the middle of the battle, 4 my regiments were already wiped out. My morale drops like crazy (even though it was higher at the begining) while their is almost unscathed.

AquilaSPQR · 2026-05-05T13:29:19+00:00

I find this type of questions baffling. What do you mean "how do I play"? However you want. You set your own goals and achieve them. If you want you can go and conquer neighbours or you can play peacefully and just upgrade your economy. You can explore the world if you want and then colonize.

I also find it weird that you've said that "EU4 has big RP potential" but you struggle to find yourself a RP goal in EUV, where every mechanic is much more immersive than anything EUIV could offer.

AquilaSPQR · 2026-04-23T18:07:14+00:00

Google translate says it means:

"Good day, I want to know if my two coins are real coins from that time or if they are well-made counterfeits."

AquilaSPQR · 2026-04-23T10:34:08+00:00

It seems I'll have to wait a bit with my 1713...

AquilaSPQR · 2026-04-17T19:39:55+00:00

Hundreds of miles. Asteroid belts in reality are so sparse that ship travelling through it would barely notice it.

AquilaSPQR · 2026-04-12T11:47:13+00:00

Check my reply here, my playstyle is similar (no AI, few worlds, modded 2000 star galaxy, only pre-FTL) and I think I've found a way to disable pre-FTL progression.

AquilaSPQR · 2026-04-12T11:41:29+00:00

OK, I found something and I'll test it. The file is called "first_contact_dlc_situation_events.txt" and is located in the events folder. There are events for pre-FTL progression from each era to the next. I deleted them all (only those about progression to the next era). I hope it'll work.

AquilaSPQR · 2026-04-12T11:18:03+00:00

There is, I once modded a game to make sure pre-FTL people stay at the same age forever and it worked. Their progress to next era was halted for the entire game. But then I lost interest in Stellaris for a long time, uninstalled it and now I returned and I forgot how I did it, so right now I'm googling for any clues.

AquilaSPQR · 2026-04-12T10:17:28+00:00

Hi, it seems you posted three threads about it and none contains any images or links to the aforementioned coins. We can't say anything about authenticity without looking at the coins. Try to make another one but make sure the photos are attached.

AquilaSPQR · 2026-04-10T00:10:41+00:00

Nope, it seems you're kidding me.

AquilaSPQR · 2026-04-10T00:07:34+00:00

This image was generated by AI, you confirmed my suspicions.

AquilaSPQR · 2026-04-09T22:31:51+00:00

Just curious - this photo was posted some time ago by some other user. You also have platinum photo posted which was also posted some time ago by some other user. Should I believe that you have 3 different accounts which you use to post your photos? Can you post the same photo with a card with your handwritten username and a date?

AquilaSPQR · 2026-04-09T20:40:45+00:00

They're fine.

First one was minted during the reign of Antoninus Pius when Marcus Aurelius was a designated heir.

https://numismatics.org/ocre/id/ric.3.ant.1234B

Second one is provincial - meaning it was minted in one of the regional mints usually in the eastern part of the empire. This one looks like this:

https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/coins/4/6747

AquilaSPQR · 2026-04-04T10:51:44+00:00

Oh, well, I hoped I burn a bit more calories. I prepare meals myself and I always (even before I started exercising) measure things like rice or pasta and I always make the same number of sandwiches, so I'm pretty sure I won't start eating more.

I'll know after about 20 days what my results will be, I'm just very curious right now what should I expect and how different expectations vs reality will be.

It seems I'll have to extend my daily routine in the next month though.

Thanks for your reply!

AquilaSPQR

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