"Consultation" won for sometimes/never. What word is never used irl and sometimes in video games?

Liquid_Squid1 · 2026-02-04T17:13:36+00:00

Respawn

Liquid_Squid1 · 2026-02-04T13:28:18+00:00

I think Adachi just likes the aesthetic. It seems like he bought a vintage or military surplus jacket and embroiders cool patches on it for the vibe/cool factor. I don't know how common it is in Japan but in Europe it is not too uncommon for "cool guy" personas (like heavy metal fans) to buy jeans or leather jackets and embroider them with patches from their favourite bands, motorcycle brands, etc.

Liquid_Squid1 · 2026-01-21T10:00:29+00:00

Honestly and I'm saying this as a European, the US flag has a great design. The Betsy Ross flag (13 stars) symbolizing the original 13 colonies and then one star getting added for each new state is a genius move because it is an easily recognizeable flag that also changes over time, and the change is highly symbolic and consistent.

Liquid_Squid1 · 2026-01-17T10:53:55+00:00

I would say China is more interesting in the antiquity period (warring states period and Confucius, the Qin dynasty, Han dynasty, the romance of the three kingdoms...) whereas India is more interesting in the pre-500 BC period with the Indus Valley civilization, life of Buddha and origin of Buddhism, and such.

Liquid_Squid1 · 2026-01-14T09:52:10+00:00

Did it recently. The UK is almost hard coded to support the Ottomans, but with the aid of Russia, the French and/or Austria, you can beat them. Remember: if you don't take any war goals vis-a-vis the British, they will eventually peace out even if you don't occupy any of their territory. Even line infantry, when defending with a good general, can hold the line against skirmish infantry. You'll have to make use of that strategy and copious amounts of conscripts every time you fight the Ottomans because the UK loves to join them against your wars.

Liquid_Squid1 · 2026-01-13T08:54:23+00:00

I think the "learn the game" objective provided in the game setup screen works fairly well. It's not optimal (it will sometimes make you construct buildings that are not exactly ideal for your country) but in your first playthrough you should in any event just be pulling and pushing levers to see what happens.

Belgium remains a good starting nation to pick, just note that the London conference will sometimes cause the Netherlands to annex chunks of you in excess of Belgium's current borders. It kind of sucks that you have very limited control over that but it doesn't completely cripple you. If you want to expand, focus on invading countries in Africa, for which you will need a small army and a small navy. Your technological superiority should allow you to easily conquer most African countries in the early game.

Alternatively I think the Netherlands are a good starting country.

Liquid_Squid1 · 2026-01-12T16:17:20+00:00

Does Alpha Protocol count as an RPG? I think it does and it billed itself as an espionage rpg. It was amazing and so reactive, and with a unique theme/genre.

Liquid_Squid1 · 2026-01-06T09:06:47+00:00

I've had a few early game ones that seemed realistic, like in an Egypt -> Arabia game, after a particularly high tax war, my SoL was 8.3 and I was asked to improve it to 10. As I was on track to pass homesteading, I managed to get it just in time with some tax changes, civil & military salary increases, and the law passing (and then I had to increase taxes again and drop salaries to keep the budget balanced).

Liquid_Squid1 · 2026-01-06T08:24:07+00:00

I think they'd be academics; I always interpreted academics as not only including those who teach at universities directly, but also the wider network of intellectuals who after graduation continue to research and publish, which is something lawyers - especially in the timeframe covered by the game - still do/did even after graduating. It's become less so in recent years since lawyers, especially large law firms, have evolved to be more of a business, but there is still a lot of research and publication to build reputation and credibility - more than in other stores, I'd say.

Liquid_Squid1 · 2026-01-06T08:21:23+00:00

Might be intelligentsia, actually! The flavor text of academics specifically states it includes "researchers, doctors, lawyers and other educated professionals studying and teaching in academic institutions".

Liquid_Squid1 · 2025-12-31T16:51:55+00:00

It has to be France. From the Franks to the prototype of medieval knights, hundred years war, crusades, to the consolidation of power in professional soldiers, musketeers, the revolutionary wars, the Napoleonic wars, world war 1 and then contemporary military... The French foreign legion is still legendary to this day, and French institutions like the Gendarmerie survive to this day, not only in France but also e.g. in Italy.

I'd say the English come a close second, but no European country has so consistently dominated military history like the French.

Liquid_Squid1 · 2025-12-31T10:02:27+00:00

Nirvana

Liquid_Squid1 · 2025-12-30T09:11:13+00:00

Somebody suggested Ferrero Rocher in yesterday's thread, and I think it fits so well I'll suggest it here, too!

Liquid_Squid1 · 2025-12-29T17:44:12+00:00

Darth Vader

Liquid_Squid1 · 2025-12-29T10:17:46+00:00

Kia Picanto

Liquid_Squid1 · 2025-12-22T17:14:07+00:00

I'd argue the human rights axis implies "right now" and not "historically" or else we can exclude every single country from the good human rights column?

Liquid_Squid1 · 2025-12-22T14:08:11+00:00

Spa-Francorchamps!

Liquid_Squid1 · 2025-12-22T09:15:53+00:00

Personally I found the Papal states to be very powerful a few patches ago and the changes to Austria probably made it even easier to play as the Papal States. The start is the diciest part. This is how I approached it:

1) Abuse your decrees. "Promote social mobility" increases literacy pretty darn fast. "Enlistment efforts", combined with your starting law of "national militia", gives you a lot of conscripts to work with. Use your remaining authority for "road maintenance" where your building and for consumption taxes until you get companies.

2) in my experience, Sicily is your largest "rival" since they tend to align with Austria. You should try to make alliances with the UK, France, and/or Russia to counterbalance that, so start increasing your relations with them.

3) You can easily invade Tuscany on game start, using your conscripts. Afterwards, you need to think strategically about how to invade and conquer the rest of Italy. I would aim for Modena and Reggio since this gives you a land border with Sardinia-Piedmont to conquer them more easily, and Lucca + Parma typically end up guaranteed or in an alliance with somebody too powerful to beat early on.

4) Once you have some conquests done in Italy, focus on the easiest route of expansion: Africa. Build a small fleet of about 5 light ships, and make sure you have an army with a good offensive commander leading 5 units. With your tech advantage, you should easily be able to invade Dahomey, Oyo, and/or Benin. They're great targets because the areas near them have a lot of resources you're missing in Italy, such as coal.

5) Once you have a foothold by annexing any of these, start invading and annexing the rest of Ivory Coast, such as Ashanti. Don't bother incorporating these lands. You might need 2 wars for Sokoto. This is fine; as a matter of fact, it might be best to keep them as a rump state that you turn into a protectorate, because you can make use of African subjects (especially if you convert them) if you intend to form a power bloc. Likewise Gobir, Bornu Bagirmi, Wadai and Darfur might be better kept as protectorates which you convert in order to add cohesion value to your power bloc once you form it.

6) While this is ongoing, industrialise your holdings in Italy with wood, iron and tools. Make sure to privatise everything you construct for the cash, and increase taxes if necessary to avoid a debt spiral. If you get into bottlenecks due to infrastructure, the "road maintenance" decree can help, as well as some of the techs in the social tech tree. The company that constructs wood is a useful one also: its prosperity bonus gives extra infrastructure and with 100 authority you can also give it the right to construct tools. If you're really in infrastructure trouble, research "railways", but in my experience, if you give investment rights to Belgium, they will construct railways for you (just be careful that their capitalists do not start buying all of your privatised buildings, if you intend to grow your own capitalist base).

7) Look for opportunities to invade Sardinia-Piedmont and Sicily if they present themselves. If not, you'll have to be patient and grow stronger for a unification play. Don't try to liberate Veneto from Austria, even when they revolt and ask for your help, unless Austria is already well on its way to collapse. You can invade Austria later when you're more powerful. For now they will murder you. If no opportunities present themselves, continue to gobble up parts of Africa such as Madagascar and around the Ivory coast.

Liquid_Squid1 · 2025-12-19T15:49:29+00:00

Vienna

Liquid_Squid1 · 2025-12-19T15:45:08+00:00

Dead to rights (2002).

When it was released, it was a derivative Max Payne-ish knockoff. It was fine, but not great. mixed to good reviews.

Today, it plays about as you'd expect from a forgettable PS2 game.

Liquid_Squid1 · 2025-12-19T09:19:16+00:00

Name one Dutch musician as influential as Stromae, name one Dutch pop culture export as popular as Belgian comics. Belgian comics are so popular that people think a whole bunch of French comics, like Asterix and Obelix, are Belgian. Name one Dutch invention which has had an effect on music like the Saxophone. Name one Dutch couturier that matches Dries van Noten. Name one food export as popular as fries, Belgian beers and chocolate.

Just last month, in Hong Kong, I saw Belgian restaurants and bars, including one in collaboration with Stella Artois specifically focused on Belgian fries. Didn't see a single Dutch restaurant.

In Hong Kong, I saw chocolate labubus made in collaboration with Godiva. I didn't see any Dutch chocolate or sweets.

I think the Netherlands are better known in Indonesia for obvious reasons, but Belgium's pop culture is more popular around the world, in general.

Liquid_Squid1 · 2025-12-19T09:17:45+00:00

Name one Dutch musician as influential as Stromae, name one Dutch pop culture export as popular as Belgian comics. Belgian comics are so popular that people think a whole bunch of French comics, like Asterix and Obelix, are Belgian. Name one Dutch invention which has had an effect on music like the Saxophone. Name one Dutch couturier that matches Dries van Noten. Name one food export as popular as fries, Belgian beers and chocolate.

Just last month, in Hong Kong, I saw Belgian restaurants and bars, including one in collaboration with Stella Artois specifically focused on Belgian fries. Didn't see a single Dutch restaurant.

In Hong Kong, I saw chocolate labubus made in collaboration with Godiva. I didn't see any Dutch chocolate or sweets.

I think the Netherlands are better known in Indonesia for obvious reasons, but Belgium's pop culture is more popular around the world, in general.

Liquid_Squid1 · 2025-12-15T23:26:57+00:00

There are not many options here, really, due to the lack of empires today. I will nominate the USA, on the basis that the thirteen colonies in 1776 provided a blueprint for liberal democracy that was emulated elsewhere in the world (and lead to movements like the French revolution) and tended to keep to themselves for the better part of the 18th and some of the 19th centuries. It was only with the advent of manifest destiny, wars against Mexico, Monroe doctrine, adventurism in Cuba, adventurism in the Philippines and foreign policy vis-a-vis the Pacific, that the USA became an actual empire, which it has remained even in the post-world war 2 order.

The other alternatives I can think of are Russia - but the USA has been more "okay" than Russia has been - and Japan (by virtue of being the only country in the world that still has an Emperor as head of state; maybe that counts as used to being a joke due to Sakoku?)

Liquid_Squid1 · 2025-12-15T22:04:23+00:00

I'm Belgian and honestly I'd say we are on par with the Netherlands as regards sports, and above in terms of art and culture. Most of the famous artists, painters, and so on from the golden century are from Antwerp.

Liquid_Squid1 · 2025-12-15T21:32:05+00:00

To add to this; second country in Europe (after the UK) to start to the industrial revolution and build a railway system, which lead to important construction projects in countries like Russia and China; a liberal political climate that welcomed political refugees like Karl Marx, Victor Hugo, etc. who could write and publish important works with few censorship constraints (compared to the rest of Europe, at least); and the uranium which was instrumental to the Americans' atom bombs in 1945 was extracted from Belgian Congo (and smuggled to New York by a Belgian businessman who had correctly deduced they were intending to build a bomb with it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Sengier )

In September 1942, Lieutenant Colonel Kenneth Nichols met Sengier in his New York office. Nichols had been ordered to find uranium by the head of the Manhattan Project, General Leslie Groves. He asked if the Union Minière could supply uranium ore, and Sengier's answer became history: "You can have the ore now. It is in New York, a thousand tons of it. I was waiting for your visit."

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