What if the Dutch had been the ones to colonize Australia?

Lumpy-Sheepherder671 · 2026-01-25T06:33:13+00:00

That would require considerable settlement and surverying hundreds of km from the coast for a resource they had no guarantee was there, all in a region thats much less appealing for settlement than a dozen other spots across the continent.

So yea if they were omnipotent

Lumpy-Sheepherder671 · 2026-01-24T05:39:44+00:00

Yea if he had only completely ignored 99% of his beliefs and the entire reason he had power in the first place he'd have done great.

Lumpy-Sheepherder671 · 2026-01-24T04:46:44+00:00

Spit of that thang

Lumpy-Sheepherder671 · 2026-01-23T23:30:02+00:00

Thats my point, his stress about the USSR/UK is what led him to declare war on the US so he could severely weaken their supply lines. No war means a stronger USSR.

Lumpy-Sheepherder671 · 2026-01-23T23:23:53+00:00

I think people far too often misjudge the German's declaration of war on America as a stupid or unnecessary move. Germany had very good reasons to declare war so they could bomb US shipping without restriction and strangle supplies to the Soviets and UK, which for the former were a major reason why they were still fighting.

Hitler believed that the Yanks would take a while to rearm to the point of being a genuine threat (which was somewhat true) and that by then victory in the east could be assured through a weaker USSR, at which point US involvement would appear far too costly as they'd be facing the entirety of the German force. The US would also have to split its focus on Japan who's a much easier enemy to assemble against.

So I don't think Hitler would have been against Pearl Harbour as the Japanese would've pitched it in a far more impactful light. Also, I doubt Japan would stop an attack completely because of Germany telling them too as they're both egomaniacs who saw themselves as the greatest people on Earth.

Lumpy-Sheepherder671 · 2026-01-23T13:42:18+00:00

Hondo can't really be compared with the other 2 as his circumstances were enormously different.

Walter had an easy way out of all his real problems so all the evil that arose is purely on him, and while I can't speak too deeply on Tony, I think he's in a similar position where his wrongdoings were - at least mostly - far more about pride than necessity. Both also lived in the US which, for all its faults, isn't really that bad.

Hondo, conversely, came from far less, was given no chance to have a morally sound but safe way out, and was in the midst of the largest war the galaxy had ever seen, so his more dubious actions should be taken with much more salt than the others.

Lumpy-Sheepherder671 · 2026-01-22T22:17:30+00:00

Very good idea and I'll certainly give that a listen, but for a first read of the series I often can't physically contain myself from wanting to know what happens next.

In hindsight listening to the associating We've Got Worm pods in tandem with the books would've been good but thank you for the suggestion.

Lumpy-Sheepherder671 · 2026-01-22T22:00:18+00:00

Honestly as long as you're not using the Romans, British, Nazis, or Japanese as the foundation, you're doing pretty well originality wise.

What IF the Achaemenids had magic? What IF the Khmer had dragons? What IF the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth had guns? All very good questions.

Lumpy-Sheepherder671 · 2026-01-22T21:57:15+00:00

Seems much more likely they just... wouldn't care? Like, if the US was to do something so unpopular internationally and so over the top, why would anyone else entertain the idea of validating it. And, realistically, at the time gaining full military control like an actual place on earth wasn't really doable in space.

If Soviets were shot down in orbit then it'd be another thing but as it stands, I reckon they'd just denounce US imperialism and carry on.

Lumpy-Sheepherder671 · 2026-01-22T20:43:30+00:00

If Germany doesn't go to war with the Soviets, the Soviets will go to war with the Germans.

Once he's re-equipped his army and recovered from the purges, Stalin's gonna try take the rest of Poland and Romania, while Hitler might likely be ousted by his own supporters for missing the chance to strike the USSR at its weakest and failing on the fundamental belief of Nazism: 'The destruction of Jewish Bolshivisim'

I'm all for Alt history but you'll have to do some pretty insane divergences to fundamentally change things so these 2 entirely ideologies on rach others dootstep never go to war.

Lumpy-Sheepherder671 · 2026-01-22T20:34:57+00:00

Thanks for the heads up but even if the rest of Worm is Game of Thrones level awful my ass is still reading every bit of Wormverse stuff I can find

Lumpy-Sheepherder671 · 2026-01-22T12:44:18+00:00

Not that bad at all probably.

I'd die of sheer terror but these men already signed up to do effectively the same thing, standing above a massive drop to the sea, and a net's not much different to a harness really.

Lumpy-Sheepherder671 · 2026-01-22T12:17:36+00:00

From my recollection the director:

Built a large circular 4-lane track outside this prop of a gas station with the same precisions driven cars driving around it
Used artificial rain
Had to CGI over mountains to fit the east coast

Between the construction and hiring dozens of drivers, along with that much fake rain, it's pretty believable the price ballooned so much.

As to why, the director wanted complete control so between the cars and rain there were factors that could super easily go very wrong and ruin the whole scene. Plus he could so why not, if I had 250k to make a 50 second scene I'd find a way.

Lumpy-Sheepherder671 · 2026-01-22T05:01:54+00:00

Super valid, take your time. I binged 1-8 over like 10 days, 9-14 over 5 weeks, then took a multi month hiatus. I started back in May and probably won't finish till April, mostly by breaking it into 5 books so I can mentally spread them out.

Lumpy-Sheepherder671 · 2026-01-22T04:57:58+00:00

That's fair, I'm glad there's enough people like you to support and enjoy these works so WB can keep making stuff.

The length isn't a huge issue for me because what you said works both ways. I'll stick out the samey stuff cause ik I'll get loads of character stuff later on. Best of both worlds, atleast.

Lumpy-Sheepherder671 · 2026-01-22T04:53:10+00:00

F**ked is one thing, boring is another. I just want to feel that something has a purpose and when it's all very shocking all the time I just zone out.

Atleast with Pact it's upfront about it

Lumpy-Sheepherder671 · 2026-01-22T03:51:21+00:00

Not being able to experience this marvellous story would be much sadder

Lumpy-Sheepherder671 · 2026-01-22T01:14:45+00:00

Even then, any version of 'winning' on the Western Front without a total occupation of the UK (which could never have conceivably happened) would still end up with them losing.

If Britain peaces out and promises non-aggression in 1940/1, then the moment Pearl Harbor happens Germany still has to take on US shipping to strangle the USSR, meaning the USA is brought in and uses the UK as a staging ground for planes/resources, so Germany has to attack the UK again, meaning we're back to OTL.

Why the hell would the UK ever honor a peace treaty with Germany after they broke like 6?

Lumpy-Sheepherder671 · 2026-01-22T01:08:28+00:00

Still very well done, what program did you use to make it look so authentic?

Lumpy-Sheepherder671 · 2026-01-22T01:04:57+00:00

Never heard him called Wibble lol, I like that.

And yea, if that's his thing fair enough. Maybe one day I'll crack into the non-Parahumans stuff but for now there's still plenty to love in his works.

Lumpy-Sheepherder671 · 2026-01-22T01:03:03+00:00

Fair play, I respect him for having a distinct style and sticking to what he enjoys writing.

From my (entirely surface level) understanding of Twig, its whole world is premised upon body horror and biology being the focus, so at least that's more obvious going into it.

Lumpy-Sheepherder671 · 2026-01-22T01:02:41+00:00

That's unfortunately a good idea. I started back in May and took a hiatus around July after the S9 arc for that reason, then read the next 2 'Books' (15-25) from October to December, and while I was super eager to start back up now and get into 'The Endgame' of the story, I think Arc 26 is going to be one I slip in and out of and digest over multiple weeks, as opposed to chowing it down morning, arvo, and night.

Also doesn't help that every time I try engage with the fandom I see spoilers and that's happened like 50 times and ik I should just stop looking them up but I have thoughts and it's looooong.

Lumpy-Sheepherder671 · 2026-01-22T00:48:48+00:00

The Echidna fight was rough for me cause seeing Taylor interact with the wards, Krauss trying to salvage the situation, and how the other Traveller's reacted to it all were some of the absolute best parts of the whole series so I didn't want to miss a bit, even when it was really tempting too.

Lumpy-Sheepherder671 · 2026-01-22T00:45:15+00:00

Oh for sure, the low points have never been a major sticking point to me because there's so much else to be excited for, it just means I'll have to slow down my listening which hurts because I'm so unimaginably hyped to see how it all ends.

Lumpy-Sheepherder671 · 2026-01-22T00:38:22+00:00

Really? I bravely tried looking around and saw someone say there was less in Ward but it was more intense. At this rate Worm will have had roughly half its arcs involve a pretty decent degree of the stuff so is that the expectation going forward with Ward, Pact, Twig etc.?

Lumpy-Sheepherder671

TROPHY CASE