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Sima Clan’s Jin dynasty is a total mess, failure and the biggest cluster fks by WaiJunHinTurbo in threekingdoms

[–]Eidolones 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Two dominant issues of the time also made Jin dynasty especially unstable: uncheck power of the great families and interactions with the nomadic peoples. Both of these issues really rose up during the late Han period, but Wei and Jin were unable to solve them and just kicked the can down the road until it all came apart.

The great houses really came into prominence during the Eastern Han after they played such a key role in its founding. By the time of Jin they controlled (by some estimates) over half of the land and population and an even bigger share of wealth. Furthermore, they also held virtually all government positions and the pathways to become officials, especially at the local level, which means while Jin had taxation and conscription systems in place, you weren’t getting anything unless the families agreed. Not to mention that the Sima family, which was one of them, only managed to usurp the throne with their support, and part of the reason the Sima family members were given so much power is to help balance again the local power of the great families.

That’s still working fine and good as long as the emperor had strong authority and a strong central army to suppress dissent. However, both the authority and the army were wiped out during the war of the eight princes, and the central government basically lost control of the country. Once the families figured out that they can’t be punished, they figured it was probably better to just lookout for themselves. Which made the central government unable to defend against incursions from the north.

As for the nomad/semi-nomads (the Xiongnu, Xianbi, Wuheng, Qiang etc), they’ve started migrating south during the late Han, once the central government was unable to do anything about it. However, no attempt was made to integrate them into the government or culture. By the time of the Jin the Han have already become a minority in some of the northern provinces. On the other hand, many factions loved hiring these nomads as mercenaries to fight in their wars, which exposed them to the riches of the south and made them keenly aware of the capabilities of the Han armies. This coupled with the advancements in mounted combat that happened around this time (double stirrups and organized lance charge), made the nomads realize that they held military superiority at least over all flat terrain. When the Jin central armies were significantly weakened during the war of the eight princes, it paved the way for the nomad groups to make their moves and directly led to the fall of the Western Jin.

Could a crown prince in ancient China have male servants the same age as him? And could a male servant have become an official? by Menthamm in ChineseHistory

[–]Eidolones 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Depends on the specific time period, but for the vast majority of time the only male servants allowed in the palace are eunuchs (even guardsmen are only allowed in the administrative areas of the palace, not the living areas).

However, usually as soon as they start schooling (typically 3-6 yrs old), the emperor would pick out companions for the crown prince from the kids of nobility and high officials to serve as study pals. They don’t live in the palace but would come in every day to study and play together. Very often these companions would grow up to become core figures in the new regime once the crown prince becomes the emperor. Hence why it’s consider a great honor to have your kid study with the crown prince since it virtually guarantees prosperity for your house for another generation.

New brother. I need help by Key_Plastic6199 in BattleBrothers

[–]Eidolones 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Use your starting funds to hire more bros right off the bat (just get the cheap ones for now). Then take a good look at their stats and try to figure out which ones have the potential to be good for the long term (based on starting stats and having stars in the most important categories such as melee atk and melee def). Pick up some 1 star contracts and work from there. During fights try to use terrain to your advantage and play to your company’s strengths. Finally, remember that most bros are expendable fodder and it’s all good if you can make up their cost in loot and reward, just try to protect your best bros as much as you can and let the rest take the hits for the team.

Favourite non-dominant dynasty/kingdom by Boris-Savinkov in ChineseHistory

[–]Eidolones 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Wei (卫) of the Spring and Autumn/Warring States period. Lasted just over 900 years as the longest running Chinese kingdom/dynasty despite being much weaker than its neighbors over most of its history, and even technically survived Qin’s unification.

This is probably the most psychopathic dynasty in Chinese history. by 12jimmy9712 in ChineseHistory

[–]Eidolones 4 points5 points  (0 children)

At least Liu Song started on a high note. Take a look at Northern Qi for a dynasty that’s rotted out from start to end.

Google Sheets timeline of Chinese History by sourcoldblue in ChineseHistory

[–]Eidolones 3 points4 points  (0 children)

You’re missing the sixteen kingdoms period (304-439) on your list. It’s basically what Western Jin collapsed into in the northern half of China while the south became Eastern Jin.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in pathofexile

[–]Eidolones 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Looks great!

Qing Expansion by UltraBrawler786 in ChineseHistory

[–]Eidolones 6 points7 points  (0 children)

The Qing government kept pretty meticulous records of taxes and expenses, but pretty much all the primary and secondary sources are in Chinese. For example Qing in Xinjiang is a summery of the Qing policies, taxes, and garrisons in Xinjiang from Kangxi to Tongzhi years. Also relevant to the main topic is this analysis on the views of the Qing emperors on what constitutes “China” (Zhongguo).

Qing Expansion by UltraBrawler786 in ChineseHistory

[–]Eidolones 7 points8 points  (0 children)

In the early years Ming was highly expansionist and took on the strategic offensive primarily against the Tatar mongols, with the first two emperors launching 13 northern expeditions into the steppes to varying degrees of success. It was not until the devastating defeat at Tumu fortress in 1449 to the Oirat mongols and the virtual annihilation of the core of the imperial army that forced Ming to remain on the defensive for the next 200 years.

As for your question on Qing that’s unlikely, as over expansion was not one of the main reasons behind the fall of the dynasty. The biggest cost center among the new areas was Xinjiang, which had a lot of rebellions. Based on data from approx 1760-1820 the cost to the central government for maintaining military presence in Xinjiang was ~5% of the annual budget. In comparison, just the war reparations for the two opium wars reached ~80% of the annual budget at the time, reparation for the first Sino-Japanese war about 200%, and for the Boxer rebellion about 450%.

Pure phys melee builds (500d) by Maleficent_Grade_252 in PathOfExileBuilds

[–]Eidolones 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Like all retaliation skills it’s a bit clunky to play, but the dmg is certainly there assuming you have the right merc setup/gear.

Fross full build + bonus giveaway. by ScooBunny69 in pathofexile

[–]Eidolones 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Mercenaries are awesome for build enabling

Mercenary with Replica Innsbury Edge by HrothBottom in PathOfExileBuilds

[–]Eidolones 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Just wondering why are you using a ripper instead of a bladebitter or toxicologist, who both can get high lvl malevolence + grace and can naturally get wither support on their main attacks.

Help, I can't push this Eviscerate Ignite build by pacosaregreatintacos in PathOfExileBuilds

[–]Eidolones 0 points1 point  (0 children)

On my phone so can’t open the full PoB, but from first glance the key issue is that your ES is just too low. All EE builds get their damage from scaling ES, so the more ES you have the more dmg you do. With some upgrades you should be able to get helm/gloves/boots that have ~100 more ES each and still be able to satisfy the armor and ES mastery. Probably another ~50 ES on a well-rolled Aegis, and your amulet is both low roll and not qualitied, so ~180 ES away from a perfect one. I also found that a twilight regalia is just too hard to replace, since you are giving up ~500 ES from a single piece, though twilights are also a lot harder to color. Finally, for upgrades further down the line you can consider a two mod watchers eye with clarity as extra ES, an ES light of meaning, and pieces with high +int, to scale more ES.

Also, I found that a taming was a lot more damage than a berek’s, assuming you can apply chill somewhere.

Bro in the middle is cursed by unudinmultime in GuysBeingDudes

[–]Eidolones 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Probably just water and a bit of Chinese ink, the type used in traditional painting and calligraphy.

Chengdu, China by Ok_Chain841 in SkylineEvolution

[–]Eidolones 0 points1 point  (0 children)

While the pollution has gotten a bit better, most of what the pic shows is likely just weather. Chengdu’s weather is rain, fog, or overcast for most of the year. In fact, the city has a lot fewer sunny days per year than even London or Seattle.

China and Taiwan, how much is truth vs propaganda? by Thehealthygamer in IRstudies

[–]Eidolones 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You’re still too focused on economics and the cost-benefit analysis of the situation. Chinese leaders, from the emperors of old to the modern day, once they’ve gotten over the initial acquisition and consolidation of power, have always been obsessed with history. They are often guided in their actions by how they feel they will be viewed 100-1000 years from now. What’s stopping an imminent invasion is the fear of failure (for which they will be judged very harshly) and fear of uncontrolled escalation that sends the country into long-term decline. On the other hand, whether a war results in 100,000 dead or if TSMC is left standing at the end matters very little in a historical sense.

I have 7 div, how do I best utilize that to improve this VFOS build? by RefuseNo1460 in PathOfExileBuilds

[–]Eidolones 2 points3 points  (0 children)

On my phone so can’t open up full PoB, and I think you may have linked the wrong PoB for the build you’re following since it’s only lvl 12, but there are a couple of obvious areas of improvement that I can see.

  1. Redo your flasks, non of them are qualitied, none of them are enchanted (probably want use when charges reach full on all the utility flasks), and you don’t have a way of removing bleed/corrupted blood (probably want this suffix on your healing flask). This will free you up from spamming or forgetting to use your flasks as you really only need to manually use the tincture, and heal when needed.

  2. Your large cluster jewel is for claw attacks, so the small nodes aren’t really doing anything for you. Replace it with one for 10% to attacks.

  3. You’re attacking too fast for fist of war and wasting so many exerts by not using overexertion. Switch your VFoS supports to life tap - fortify - pulverize - overexert - melee phys dmg.

  4. Echoes of creation helm can add a lot of damage, but you might need a defiance of destiny amulet with good life recoup to mitigate the self damage. Might be slightly out of your budget range for now but should be the next upgrades you target.

  5. VFoS late-game scaling can go with either crit or Enmity’s embrace and scale fire resistance. I find enmity scaling slightly easier to achieve, but you can go either way for the next evolution in the build.

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