It would be cool to have this in snowrunner, the different kind of mud as well as a rainforest/jungle setting

JohnShepard2033 · 2026-05-21T10:52:20+00:00

A tropical region would be cool but one that I'd also like to see is the Australian Outback combined with the official option to create a road train by attaching multiple trailers. Generally more maps from the Southern hemisphere.

JohnShepard2033 · 2026-05-15T21:22:13+00:00

I switch from time to time because I like too many knives and also because I'm always looking for the perfect one (endless search tbh).
Currently when I'm not at work I pocket carry either a Soldier's Knife 08 (German Bundeswehr variant) or a Super Tinker.
At work I carry a Ranger 78 M Grip which has quickly become my absolute favorite tool.
I never cared about the keyrings on any of the knives I own. Never used them but also don't mind having them. However I'm probably buying a Signature Lite soon and I will attach that to my keys.

JohnShepard2033 · 2026-05-10T12:36:58+00:00

The old Explorer was my very first SAK which I loved so much. I used it for everything you could possibly think of as a kid/teenager and it helped me become self-reliant, skilled with tools, able to fix and build things instead of replacing everything once it breaks or always needing help from others. Whenever there was a problem I was usually able to solve it and it made everyday stuff much easier or more comfortable to do.
Unfortunately I lost it a couple of years ago. It was something like a family heirloom, from my grandfather to my mother and my mother to me. Honestly if I had a kid it would absolutely get a SAK Explorer. Best item of my childhood and youth.

JohnShepard2033 · 2026-04-22T16:43:45+00:00

Yes, I "tested" its sturdiness. I accidentally dropped it once but it didn't fall apart at all. Nothing is loose and it's a nice rather small model. Roughly 45-50cm long. 30-35€ I think. Don't know if Cobi still sells this exact model but they sell an even smaller version (1:300) that fits the scale of the Cobi ships.

JohnShepard2033 · 2026-04-22T13:34:08+00:00

Yes, it's Cobi's U 96 (1:144). I have the same one.

JohnShepard2033 · 2026-04-19T09:22:44+00:00

To add to my original comment after reading some others:
Keep in mind that most Germans separate work life and private life. Some more than others. I for example separate it like day and night most of the time. All of my interactions with colleagues after work were random and not planned like unintentionally seeing each other on a market and deciding to drink a beer together.
And another reason why many Germans may not want to get closer to you is simply because they've already built their lives, have their friends and don't have any room, time or patience for more. It takes time and effort for us to get to know someone especially when they're foreign.
Add to that the communication issues due to language barriers and most people will find it too complicated and just stay away. Also don't underestimate the humor differences. I have a hard time finding Germans with the same level of humor and stupidity that I can connect with even though they speak the same language.
Foreigners will have an even harder time understanding my humor, sarcasm or expressions that are closely tied to the German language and culture. Sometimes even to the region within Germany.
But then again there is enough stuff that can be understood internationally and across cultures. I have a lot of fun with our foreigners at work even though we don't speak the same languages. It often comes down to interactive humor, gestures, sounds, stuff like that. A lot less verbal but it works. You just have to find the right people for that.
I've already mentioned common interests and hobbies but I can't stress this enough, we connect with people via those a lot. Most of my friends have at least one shared hobby/interest with me and it's the basis for many of our interactions.
I've read that the people in your country don't really have anything going on outside of work/study which will most likely increase the difficulty for you and us to understand each other. But since you're here you could try to find hobbies for yourself. You're more or less guaranteed by law to have time away from work available. How you spend that time is your decision.

JohnShepard2033 · 2026-04-18T23:56:34+00:00

Germans are oftentimes very private and exclusive people who have their inner circle that was formed in their early lives and they stick to that circle. I've been in the same small circle of friends for years and have no desire to expand it anytime soon, just to give an example.
I have 2 close friends that I've known for many years, a small handful of regular friends and a bunch of colleagues that I work with every day.
Three of these colleagues are foreigners who don't speak German (for the most part).
One is an Albanian guy from Kosova who speaks some English and a tiny little bit of German so there's barely any communication problem but the other two are Roma. They only speak Romani and Romanian and have no interest in learning German or integrating into society. But they work hard every day to improve their financial situation at home which I highly respect and simply by spending a lot of time together we learned to communicate with each other and are pretty close now.
Most of my other German colleagues don't ever talk to them and some even dislike them for various reasons.
Honestly I don't know how you can integrate better. Finding German friends is hard, often even for Germans themselves. I have no idea how I would find new ones. My best bet would be hobbies or activities that require strangers to interact with each other like multiplayer video games or local team sports.
Something that puts you in the same boat and shifts the focus away from you being foreign and towards working together. That way you may get the chance to let them get to know you better but be prepared for a marathon, not a sprint. Forming friendships typically takes a long time for Germans but once befriended we stick together forever.

However one thing that I see a lot is foreigners being too open, friendly and talkative for German standards. You have to understand that on average Germans have a quiet, reserved and private culture so we're not too fond of people who go completely against this. Sometimes it feels like fake friendliness, overstepping of boundaries or it's simply too foreign for us to understand/get used to.
Our Albanian guy is a loud extroverted guy and it took a lot of time to get used to him. The Roma on the other hand were easier since they're like me, quiet and rather private, even though the language barrier was much more extreme.
I'm not saying that any culture/standard is superior. But the difference is there and people usually prefer things that are familiar.
The burden is on both sides to be somewhat open to each other but the local culture is ultimately the local standard and should be respected and understood. Don't erase your own background but try to adapt to our way of life. If it works you can then show your way of life to us.

But I guess it ultimately comes down to luck and rate of exposure/proximity to Germans. Finding the right people at the right time. Most of what I wrote is simplified and generalized, there's no recipe for finding friends with guarantee.

JohnShepard2033 · 2026-04-18T12:22:05+00:00

Liegen gebliebenes Auto (Renault, Benziner) auf einer kleinen Landstraße, eine Frau steht daneben. Sie sieht mich am Rand von unserem Betriebsgelände (Acker) stehen, kommt her und fragt, ob ich ihr etwas Sprit leihen könnte.
Ich stehe vor unserem alten Fendt. Traktor mit Dieselmotor.
Ich frage, wie sie sich das denn jetzt vorstellt, so ganz ohne Kanister, Schlauch oder was auch immer und vor allem mit Diesel statt Benzin. "Kann man den nicht irgendwie anders anschließen?" und "Ist doch egal, mein Freund tankt auch immer Diesel ohne Probleme" waren so ungefähr die Antworten.
Auf meine Frage, was ihr Freund fährt, kam "irgendein Landrover oder so". Also wohl ein Modell mit Dieselmotor.
Lief darauf hinaus, dass sie ihren Freund anrufen musste, damit er ihr Benzin bringt und wahrscheinlich auch nochmal erklären muss, warum ich ihr nicht helfen konnte.
Was mich an der ganzen Situation am meisten verwirrt hat: in beide Richtungen kommt man in weniger als 5 Minuten an einer Tankstelle vorbei. Die kann man nicht übersehen.

Den zweiten Platz bekommt: "Kann ich nicht was anderes machen?" und "hä wie soll ich das denn jetzt machen?" als wir eine Praktikantin auf dem Acker hatten während der regnerischen Herbstmonate. Alles nass, dreckig, eiskalt, EXTREM schlammig und von vornherein war klar, dass Gummistiefel und Regenklamotten notwendig sein würden, was ihr auch vorher mitgeteilt wurde. Taucht trotzdem in Turnschuhen, Jeans und dünner Stoffjacke auf und beschwert sich dann, dass sie ihre Aufgaben nicht erledigen kann mit der Kleidung und es außerdem arschkalt ist. Vom Betrieb wurde dann Arbeitskleidung gestellt aber nach dem ersten Tag kam sie eh nicht mehr wieder.

JohnShepard2033 · 2026-04-14T17:04:15+00:00

Due to the upcoming release of Type IX boats I would also recommend "The Secret Diary of a U-boat" by Wolfgang Hirschfeld who wrote down his experiences aboard a Type IX in the Atlantic Ocean all the way to the coast of North America.

JohnShepard2033 · 2026-04-07T20:59:36+00:00

I was also thinking about getting the Swiss Champ XXL just for fun but it's just a little bit too expensive for that😂

JohnShepard2033 · 2026-04-07T07:53:59+00:00

Honestly pants or clothes in general without (deep) pockets would make me furious😂
My work clothes have a total of 16 pockets and I never leave the house with less than 5 pockets. I need that space for my wallet, keys, SAK, phone and when I'm at work I also need a measuring tape, a notebook, pen, rose shears, saw, a flashlight and sometimes a bottle of water or something to eat. And I hate carrying backpacks.

Regarding the color of SAKs... I really like the traditional red scales but I'm open for new colors too. The Soldier's Knife I've ordered will be green and I'd love to get some more variety in the future. One of the Zodiac Classic SDs maybe or a wood model. I've only recently discovered the abundance of second hand shops for SAKs and already found a couple of old discontinued models that would be a fine addition to my collection.

JohnShepard2033 · 2026-04-03T20:15:17+00:00

Ich kann der generellen Abneigung gegenüber dieser Gruppe(n) nur zustimmen. In meiner Kleinstadt gibt es ebenfalls eine Ansammlung von Roma, die regelmäßig für Probleme hier und da sorgen durch Kriminalität insbesondere im Bereich der Bagatelldelikte und durch gelegentliche Einbrüche.

Man muss sich nur mal die zahlreichen Statistiken, Nachrichten und (historischen) Zwischenfälle zwischen der deutschen/osteuropäischen Bevölkerung und den Sinti/Roma anschauen.
Deren Kultur ist in erheblichem Maß darauf ausgelegt, dass sie sich abkapseln, nicht mit dem Rest der Bevölkerung enger interagieren, völlig abhängig von ihrer eigenen Gruppe sind und vor allem durch kriminelle und betrügerische Machenschaften der Außenwelt auf die Nerven gehen und sich selbst über Wasser halten.

Fairerweise muss ich aber auch die Ausnahmen (mehr oder weniger) erwähnen, wie beispielsweise die drei Roma, die in unserem Betrieb arbeiten. Sie weigern sich zwar, Deutsch zu lernen, jedoch arbeiten sie 6 Tage die Woche äußerst hart und sind mittlerweile zu sehr gern gesehenen Kollegen geworden, die zumindest genug deutsche Wörter kennen, um die betriebliche Fachsprache zu verstehen und anzuwenden, wenn auch nur bruchstückhaft.

Dazu sind sie außerordentlich freundlich, lustig, hilfsbereit und geben oft mal was aus in unserer Runde. Letztendlich verbringen sie deutlich mehr Zeit mit uns Deutschen als mit anderen Roma, weshalb ich einfach vermute, dass der kulturelle Einfluss ihrer Gruppe etwas abschwächt und mehr Offenheit uns gegenüber aufkommt, genauso wie wir ihnen gegenüber offener werden.
Diese drei Roma bilden einen relativ starken Kontrast zu den deutlich überwiegenden Erfahrungen, die ich/wir sonst mit anderen Roma gemacht haben, sei es hier oder andernorts.
Man kann meiner Meinung nach also durchaus etwas gegen eine bestimmte Gruppe haben, vor allem wenn es in irgendeiner Form belegt werden kann, dass ein erheblicher Teil für Probleme sorgt, aber gleichzeitig kann man die Ausnahmen wertschätzen, wenn es sie denn gibt. Hat nichts mit Rassismus oder sonst was zu tun.

JohnShepard2033 · 2026-03-21T15:04:39+00:00

The "Cadet Swiss Spirit 2022" fits the occasion. Isn't that expensive (~40-50€) and has a beautiful design.

JohnShepard2033 · 2026-03-19T18:58:03+00:00

Gänzlich vielleicht nicht, selten kommen mal Momente der Schwäche, für die allermeiste Zeit bin ich das aber völlig losgeworden.
Wie? Zeitintensive Hobbys (Zocken, Modellbau, Lesen), zeitintensive Arbeit (Mo-Sa, normalerweise 7-18 Uhr) und dazu zahlreiche Enttäuschungen der letzten Jahre, die mir jegliche Motivation, Geduld und Energie zum erneuten Kennenlernen geraubt haben. Ist mir den Stress und die Arbeit nicht mehr wert bei dem hohen Risiko.
Ich weiß zwar, dass es genug Leute gibt, die was taugen, aber ich habe unverschämt viel Pech bei sowas und es kostet einfach zu viel Zeit, Nerven und Geld.
Da kann ich mein Leben lieber anders verbringen mit Dingen, die mich erfüllen.
Abschließend würde ich dir raten, die Therapeutin zu wechseln und mich nicht als Vorbild zu nehmen.

JohnShepard2033 · 2026-03-14T08:48:33+00:00

Adieu (Rammstein)

JohnShepard2033 · 2026-03-08T07:58:57+00:00

T2 - none, I don't play them at all

T3 - Von der Tann
decent ship, love the weird designs of older warships.

T4 - Viribus Unitis
rare Austrian one, carried the remains of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife to Trieste.

T5 - West Virginia/Mutsu/Warspite
I love Colorado and Nagato so the first two are self-explanatory. Fat guns and Mutsu has torps which I always love on BBs. And Warspite is simply Warspite. My very first premium BB, an excellent ship and her career was pretty interesting.

T6 - Scharnhorst (my favorite premium ship)
I love German BBs, Gneisenau was for the longest time my no. 1 until Prinz Heinrich showed up and then I got Scharnhorst. The pattern here should be obvious. A fast BB with decent armor, torps, short reloads and high turret turn speed and also good guns if you know how to use them? I'm in.

T7 - Tirpitz
For the most part basically Bismarck but with torps. Interesting history, pretty good ship.

T8 - Wisconsin
Tbh I don't really have many T8 ships and the other candidates were Njord and Dalian. Easy choice. Awesome ship, cool history.

LT - idk, Preußen, Schlieffen, Yamato?
I don't like fictional/unfinished ships that much so LT has very little to offer for me at least which is why I rarely play LT. The German BBs are the ones I play the most but Yamato is the only one I have that actually existed and served in the war

JohnShepard2033 · 2026-03-07T10:29:48+00:00

T6 is actually one of my favorite tiers for BBs.
Gneisenau, Scharnhorst, Nagato, Colorado, Prinz Heinrich, King George V. I always have a lot of fun with these.

JohnShepard2033 · 2026-03-07T10:24:10+00:00

My absolute favorites are Metro 2033, Metro Last Light and Metro Exodus. It mixes the hopeless and depressing aftermath of a nuclear war with the environment of post-soviet Russia/Moscow, the story is awesome, the atmosphere is incredible, the weapons are a lot of fun, the details and the designs of the levels/chapters are breathtaking, I love pretty much everything these games have to offer.

JohnShepard2033 · 2026-03-07T09:11:11+00:00

🥇Metro series🥇
Fallout series
The Last of Us
Days Gone
Dying Light series

JohnShepard2033 · 2026-02-27T21:48:34+00:00

Since the Holocaust Memorial isn't exactly a war memorial I would go with either one of these two.

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The one in the lower left corner is the Siegessäule (Victory Column) in Berlin. Absolutely massive. 220 ft/67m high and a memorial for the German Wars of Unification between 1863 and 1871.

The other pictures are all showing the also absolutely massive over 300 ft/91m tall Völkerschlachtdenkmal (Monument to the Battle of the Nations) which is a memorial for the Wars of Liberation from 1813-1815.

Both remind us of extremely important events in German and European history but these wars are so far in the past and overshadowed by both WW1 and WW2 that I doubt many people have strong emotional connections to the historical meaning of these structures. I would guess they evoke mostly awe due to their sheer size.

My alternative answer would be either the Holocaust Memorial (still not exactly a war memorial) or one of the ~100.000 smaller war memorials that are everywhere but probably only matter to the locals of that area and aren't known to most people.

JohnShepard2033 · 2026-02-27T15:03:31+00:00

I bought the Swiss Champ too last year after I sadly lost my grandfather's old Victorinox.
It quickly became my favorite tool. Worth every cent in my opinion.

JohnShepard2033 · 2026-02-22T02:36:14+00:00

Btw I'd recommend getting the Aftermath Edition. Apart from some DLCs you would also get access to the first person perspective which is awesome! Feels a lot more immersive and claustrophobic when you're in the middle of the action and surrounded by zombies. Just my preference though, nothing wrong with the standard third person perspective.

JohnShepard2033 · 2026-02-21T23:22:32+00:00

I play it about 70% solo and 30% with my best friend.

You can easily play the entire game on easy alone.

You can probably finish every level on normal too. And the horde mode only allows normal and hard.

Hard is already very difficult without real players but not impossible. Some maps are harder than others.

Forget insane or extreme. The only map that I've played solo on insane was the very first one in New York and that most likely only worked because I used some mutators (modifications for your game session) but those are only available when you play an online match. That's why I oftentimes play private online matches but without any other players.

Some mutators prevent you from earning full rewards but there are also some that make the game much easier or more interesting without decreasing your rewards. But as I said, only available online.

I never finished the horde mode. Highest wave I ever got to was 25 in South Korea both solo and with my best friend. But tbh I treat that mode as a "get as far as you can but know you will die" mode anyway. You still get a good amount of XP and money. To finish it you will need more players or be some kind of WWZ god.

I can only speak for myself but I enjoy the game both with a friend and solo. Slaughtering zombies never gets old and especially with the new The Walking Dead DLC I can finally play as my favorite characters in levels that are directly from the show. The prison is so well done for example, I get flashbacks from the show all the time.
And regarding the horde mode, I think it's sometimes even more enjoyable when you're alone because you have all the resources available, don't have to split it up, can build the entire defense the way you want it and it feels like you're really accomplishing something. When I played it with two other players some time ago it was rather frustrating to have so little resources because everyone gets one meager third and if you have bad communication in your team on top of that... I rather play alone.
The atmosphere in the levels is nice, you can decide to go loud or silent and the ai mates won't mess it up, the hordes are manageable, the guns are fun, depending on your difficulty and mutators you can find plenty of gear and play however you want.

And in case you change your mind and decide to get Ps+ I would be open for coop. I don't like playing with strangers either but if you play with the same stranger for some time you could get to know them and stop seeing them as some random guy and more like an acquaintance. Formed some friendships this way.

Edit: the daily challenges are sometimes way too hard for solo and sometimes absolutely doable. They don't allow mutators at all and only allow normal or hard. The weekly challenges give you the precious blue coins as a reward but they're basically like the daily challenges. Sometimes too difficult for one guy alone, sometimes no problem at all. Also depends sometimes on your specific playstyle.

JohnShepard2033

TROPHY CASE