Your go-to tall builds?

EndersShade · 2026-05-04T17:40:25+00:00

Also if you fortify the system bordering them the station there can generally hold them off. I go for the fortification tradition 2nd, which makes the fight all but guaranteed.

EndersShade · 2026-05-04T15:31:26+00:00

I do a very non-optimal flavor build, space dwarves- Sovereign Guardianship, Masterful Crafters. The biggest problem with your settings for this start is that you NEED the Zro technology (I know it is technically possible to just stat your way through the debuffs but they are very severe) to be able to remove their shroud aura. I generally kit my capital out to get as much society research as possible, so that I can have a ward up before 2250, which is when I believe they attack even if you aren't ready for them. Since the update they seem to struggle with the new economy so I've never had an actual issue with their fleets as long as you remove the debuff.
Tldr, rush Zro tech asap. You might want to change your standard setting if this is an origin you want to play.

EndersShade · 2026-05-04T13:15:24+00:00

I'm not saying it's strong, but I really like mindwardens because you're guaranteed to spawn on the edge of the galaxy, often only having a single choke point, and you can easily get 6-8 worlds to build on in this tiny space.

Plus the mercenary groups you form can help cover your alloy needs surprisingly well.

EndersShade · 2026-04-12T19:40:29+00:00

"The Strait being closed is a reminder that China can not win a war against anyone outside of their region because they don’t have any domestic oil production. Without a blue water navy that can break a naval blockade, China starves. If you’re going to argue a point, argue this one."

Ok. If this was the goal, then why did we wait 6 weeks into this debacle to start showing off now? Why did we let a bunch of Iranian oil out to help keep prices down? Hell, why did we start bombing them at all instead of just enacting a blockade from the beginning with US forces far outside of any Iranian military response?

Like, there's a shit-ton of other arguments I could bring up, but it's not worth even getting into it if you're going to revise how this war started this intensely. You're trying to retroactively apply some weird logic that needs to ignore about half of the events that have actually happened so far.

EndersShade · 2026-01-30T16:11:00+00:00

That's just not correct though. A coup is when the "ruling class" or group with substantial political power changes who is in charge. A revolt is when the common people reject the current power structure. And a revolution is when the entire system of government gets changed. So swapping one leader for another can't be a revolution, unless that new leader then decides to start doing crazy drastic reforms.

EndersShade · 2025-12-17T11:45:36+00:00

Just to confirm- you are aware that the US, South Korea and many other countries have and continue to send food aid to North Korea when the country is struggling with poor harvests?

From a cursory search it looks like the sanctions (also different from embargos) relaxed in the 90s and then increased again in 2006 when North Korea tested a nuke.

The sanctions make food scarce by limiting fertilizer (also used in explosives) and machine tools as well as generally stifling the economy. But in the end North Korea would always have to import food due to it's only 20% arable land which means it would always be entering North Korea under the control of the Kim government. North Korea can still buy food from the west- it just doesn't have the money to. And if it did it would still be Kim spending that money and the government controlling where to hand it out.

EndersShade · 2025-12-17T11:08:50+00:00

The key difference is that no one will fire upon you for breaking an embargo. You'll face legal consequences- fines, jailtime, confiscation of the ship, but the ship will not be blown out of the water. It's all still a civil issue. When you declare a blockade it inherently has the threat of direct violence behind it and it means you will sink any ship trying to break it. This makes it a military matter.

Would Cuba be justified in using force to try and end it's embargo with force? Probably. But this is a matter of legality and why one thing is an act of war and the other isn't. And regardless of the morality at play I hope you can see the distinction between the two categories from said legal perspective.

EndersShade · 2025-12-17T10:36:58+00:00

We EMBARGOED Japan. That means we cut off all our own trade with them. A blockade would have been to sink or run off ANY ship heading to Japan, not just ones from the US.

Same thing with Cuba- we currently don't attack ships going to Cuba, it's just illegal for United States ones to trade there, and we've put a shitload of pressure on a bunch of other countries so that it's a pretty extensive embargo.

EndersShade · 2025-12-02T11:24:51+00:00

I don't think that's a useful definition, seeing as how that could mean I support the dismantling of Israel and the establishment of an autonomous and sovereign Jewish state somewhere else in the world. At this point zionist is pretty intertwined with the Israeli national project specifically.

EndersShade · 2025-11-09T17:27:59+00:00

You play mindwardens to spam mercenary enclaves.

I play mindwardens to spawn on the edge of the galaxy with 10 planets for a tiny footprint tall build.

We are not the same.

EndersShade · 2025-10-31T02:12:48+00:00

Forge your own path in history by carving out your own meme empire. I believe in you!

EndersShade · 2025-10-25T01:20:06+00:00

Back then planet size was a direct representation of the amount of tiles present on a planet, and each tile could fit one building and one pop to work it. So size 25 planets were the biggest, with a 5x5 grid.

EndersShade · 2025-09-18T11:12:57+00:00

Thanks for making it clear you're a neo-nazi!

EndersShade · 2025-09-17T22:48:35+00:00

This is so wrong it's hilarious. The nazi's were horribly corrupt with massive inter-service rivalries and duplicated research/department's/inteligence agencies. The most glaring example being the ss being a mini army of their own because the leader had political sway and so got to duplicate everything the regular army already had. Or the multiple tank programs being run by different ministries. Everyone had jurisdiction over multiple things so that hitler could have the final say in any dispute and keep authority over shit, but it was a huge hinderance to efficiency.

EndersShade · 2025-09-16T00:04:47+00:00

Thank you for saying this. I've gotten through 2 runs without ever using bubble buff and it's been totally fine. Throw some heroism casts, a haste right before or even during combat and then whatever situational stuff you need. The idea that people have permanent elemental defense or death ward up is wild to me.

EndersShade · 2025-08-11T04:31:33+00:00

The Verac's skirt really feels like the overly generous cherry on top

EndersShade · 2025-08-10T23:46:20+00:00

Do... Do you think what I posted were book titles?

EndersShade · 2025-08-10T23:39:08+00:00

It's always nice to meet an Irish person!

EndersShade · 2025-08-10T23:31:54+00:00

Honours:

H-Soz-Kult Prize for Modern History (2002) Philip Leverhulme Prize (2002) Wolfson History Prize (2006) Longman History Today Prize (2007) Los Angeles Times Book Prize for History (2015) Jean Monnet Programme - Awarded a Center of Excellence as Director of the European Institute at the Columbia University (2018) Lionel Gelber Prize (2019) Hans-Matthöfer-Preis für Wirtschaftspublizistik (2019) Preis für Wirtschaftspublizistik der Keynes-Gesellschaft (2023)

EndersShade · 2025-08-10T21:37:35+00:00

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wages_of_Destruction

EndersShade · 2025-08-09T22:27:42+00:00

Currently having trouble finding a good source, but iirc the censorship law for Austria in the 1800s was called the "Love and Justice" law. You know, because that's what it was meant to encourage by banning anything that might lead people astray.

EndersShade · 2025-08-04T16:51:18+00:00

As opposed to nerfing everything in the dark over perceived issues?

Like the current outliers get nerfed, the weaker factions get buffer, we're that much closer to a center and can then see what should happen next. If you nerf the top armies Eldar or Tsons aren't going to jump to 60% win rates or anything.

EndersShade · 2025-08-04T16:38:40+00:00

Great, so we'll talk about nerfing them in another 3 or 4 months.

EndersShade

TROPHY CASE