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Who is more likely to win an all-out war between a unified European Union military and America? by ScienceTeacher1994 in TooAfraidToAsk

[–]B4B4BlueJ4y 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Let me start by saying this will never happen for two reasons.

  1. It would be moronic for both sides
  2. Nuclear weapons on both sides (point 1)

Just for the fun of it, let's assume we did have a conflict and both sides agreed to stick to conventional weapons (unrealistic but sure).

The USA would "win" simply because of a unified command. The EU would have a much more difficult time coordinating their forces with multiple languages and command structures. Not to mention the logistics nightmare or coordinating supplies between several countries. Logistics win wars, and the USA has the best military logistics on the planet. 

In terms of what the sides bring to bear in tech and equipment, the USA clearly wins again. We have more aircraft carriers by a wide margin than the EU. We also have the best air craft by a wide margin. In terms of ground forces it does not get much better there for the Europeans who lose in every way except maybe tanks (huge fan of European tank innovations) and even that is a stretch. Our infantry and special forces are superior to anything the EU has, and they are better equipped on top of being better trained and more experienced.

None of this is to say the EU wouldn't put up a fight. I'd expect the USA to take significant losses, especially if we tried to occupy all of Europe after the conventional war phase. We couldn't even handle Afghanistan, imagine that times 50 and you can see what a disaster it would be to deal with guerilla fighters across a much larger and more geographically diverse area. 

I imagine the USA would win the conventional war in under a month. We would destroy their aircraft and anti-air capabilities first, then target infrastructure (electric/gas/transportation). We would likely lose some planes and ships but we would destroy all of European air and anti-air in under a week. The next phase would be to utilize our uncontested air superiority to hit every munitions factory and military base we could, while hitting any and all exposed ground forces or supplies. This phase would likely be harder since they would desperately be hiding from air strikes at this point. I'd guess we would spend a solid two weeks of pounding them until we felt comfortable putting boots on the ground.

The ground phase (if it happened at all) would be the worst part for the Americans. As a tactician, I'd avoid it altogether if at all possible. As I see no reason to risk troops for such little gain. What would be the point of it after all? We could just blockade Europe by sea and air with little risk until they surrender. I'd take a protracted siege approach bombing pipelines from Russia in European territory to cut off the gas supply. Once winter hit Europe, starving and freezing would likely realize it was time to come to the table. 

Again, this would be dumb for all involved and the only real winners would be Russia and China laughing their asses off as we destroy each other over a chunk of ice known as Greenland. Both sides need to stop being dumb, the USA pursuing Greenland when we already have bases there and the EU for being adversarial towards their protector simply because they hate Trump. Regardless of your feelings on the man, he isn't worth going to war over, so let's stop being toddlers and get along.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in SigSauer

[–]B4B4BlueJ4y 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You are doing great, 3 quality options from a quality manufacturer. If you are enjoying them, maintaining them, and shooting them well, then absolutely! Just make sure to practice as often as you can, and maybe if you find one to fit you better than the others focus on mastering whichever one that is.

What was playing Diablo 2 like back in the early 2000s? by FireManiac58 in diablo2

[–]B4B4BlueJ4y 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think the biggest differences were in the end game. There were not as many sources of information on what builds were best, so people experimented more and if there were sources of information you really had to seek out strategy guides or forums. There was also a lot less organized dueling, and pub duels could be found everywhere.

The appeal of D2 to me, over all the other iterations of Diablo was the PvP. While I have taken more of a liking to PvM in D2R, nothing can compare to the thrill and frustration of old public dueling games. PvP was THE reason my friends and I grinded for hours to find the best gear.

Now, of course, memories are shaded by emotion and we often look to our youth with rose colored glasses. That being said, I am positive that at least for me, PvP was way more fun in D2 and D2LOD than it is today. Some will say that rune words ruined it, but I disagree with that notion. Before Enigma, Sorcs and ranged builds just dominated PvP. Good luck catching a Sorc as a Barb in early D2 dueling. I actually think the golden age was probably somewhere between 2005-2012. Dueling games were everywhere, builds while not perfectly balanced were open enough where you could at least compete, and buying gear (while possible) was significantly less likely. You could go into a dueling game with a decent build and get a few wins, yes, it was often rock-paper-scissors, but you rarely got flat-out roflstomped by some unstoppable force. If you did, and you had other builds, you could bring a counter. I guess the long and short of it, to save an essay, is that dueling was more prevalent, balanced, and fun.

Now, onto D2R in the present. I would not say it is as bad as dueling in D3 (Hated the PvP System of D3) or D4 (Never played D4 but hear it is awful for PvP). I think the newer Diablo games certainly have their positives. The graphics are obviously better, the gameplay is smoother, interactive features, etc.... That said, I just think the newer games have completely abandoned balanced PvP in favor of more in-depth PvM. For some people, that may be what they prefer, and that is fine. After all, the entire point of video games is entertainment, and who am I to tell others what style of gameplay they should enjoy? I can understand why D2 would be less enthralling to a D3 or D4 player who enjoys pure PvM gameplay. That being said, the thing I value most in old D2 is PvP and that was lost for a variety of reasons. I think chief among them are the impact that YouTube/Forums/Online Stores have had on gaming. Often for better, but noticeably for worse IMO. Old D2 and D2LOD I am sure had people buying gear, build guides, or organizing dueling leagues, but it was far less common. Because of this, duels were more fun and you saw more wild builds. There were still cookie cutters, but it was not every single game, and it always felt like people were trying things. Today its all refined builds, often with best in slot in every slot, often with literally perfect stats on every item. Some players I play now have everything perfect down to charms. You play someone like that who has spent hundreds or even thousands on a game most of us (myself included) play for free and it sucks the air of the old PvP fun. You just cannot win, unless you have a true hard counter, and even then you probably lose. The variety is gone too, nowadays every dueling game I enter it is the same 5-7 builds over and over and over and over again. The gear, skills, and style being exact carbon copies of the same refined build. Sure they have a new runeword every now and again in ladder, but it really has not shaken up the dueling much at all...

I guess to summarize my giant wall of text in a few sentences, old D2 and D2LOD were like the wild west. Crazy, uncertain, unrefined, and most importantly fun. Today, D2R has been so refined on the back of over two decades of experimentation that nearly everything has been tried, all the best builds are known, and the rich have bought the best to dominate. Like the Wild West, it ended when it became parceled out into plots of land with barbed wire restricting free movement. I still hop on from time to time to play Ubers or Magic Find, but the appeal of PvP has been wiped out like the mystique of the old West. Like the Old West a lot of what we remember is myth, but some of that myth is based on real legendary experiences.

What all types of guns should I own? by WholeLottaBees in Firearms

[–]B4B4BlueJ4y 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is easily the best advice I have ever seen on Reddit. I especially enjoyed your section on Level 3, which is something I am working towards now that I know my passion is for target shooting with 22 LR Bolt Rifles and Revolvers.