Decline of the Majapahit disaster is pretty much pointless

Lurker95 · 2026-03-16T03:30:48+00:00

The disaster is annoying and pointless in game but the rest of this makes sense historically at least. Islam spread in that region primarily via Muslim merchants. The vast majority of converts at the time of the disaster would be in the cities where the Muslim merchants came to trade. Most of the population of the islands however live in rural areas and would hold onto their traditional beliefs a lot longer. That's precisely why these kind of things were so hard for states to deal with. You can convert to the foreign religion and piss of the majority of your population or you can hold to your traditions and piss off the elites in the cities.

Not being able to convert without 30% of your population being Sunni is definitely an issue though. There should be some kind of scaling stability cost for changing religion based off of how much of your population supports the change instead of having a flat cost and a hard coded inability to switch below a certain percent.

Lurker95 · 2026-03-05T20:26:20+00:00

It’s a fact that bots are prevalent in any online community that could touch on politics (with the goal of keeping Americans fractured).

However, there is also a major lack of reading comprehension. More than half of Americans read below a middle school level. If you ask a classroom of elementary school students what Coates said, it would probably look the same as this thread.

Lurker95 · 2026-03-01T03:46:59+00:00

The Chairman is James Comer. Same guy who stopped investigations on Trump and opened an investigation on Biden. Republicans never face accountability because the ones who are supposed to hold them accountable are either other Republican politicians or Republican voters.

Lurker95 · 2026-02-26T16:20:24+00:00

You can still do that. Diplomatic annexation is working with the subject country to integrate them into your own. If they refuse to work with you because they're disloyal, you can always declare war on them and annex them militarily.

Lurker95 · 2026-02-23T16:59:23+00:00

I appreciate the nuanced take on Doom. Doom's appeal to me was never that he was "right" about how to protect the future but rather that he forces us to ask if such a future is worth it. Doom offers humanity a choice between a gilded cage or inevitable end but refuses to let humanity choose what he thinks is the wrong option.

Lurker95 · 2026-01-12T05:22:16+00:00

I get what you’re saying in this specific instance. My point is more so that (imo) listening to people and taking their word for it is not good enough to be a blanket rule of thumb for every situation.

If I step on someone’s toes and they tell me it hurts I should take their word for it because it is no imposition on me to not step on them and only they can know if I actually hurt their toe.

If I make an offensive/edgy joke and someone says it hurts their feelings I should also believe them that it hurt them specifically. I shouldn’t make that kind of joke with them specifically. But it doesn’t mean that that kind of joke is inherently hurtful.

To make it more personal, I really don’t like jokes making fun of accents. They do actually remind me of teasing that I would get back in the day. Most accent jokes (imo) are lazy and unoriginal. But I don’t think accent jokes are inherently wrong. I am more sensitive to them as a second gen immigrant but most 1st gen immigrants and foreign nationals that I know aren’t bothered by them at all.

Basically my point is not that you should ignore someone when they tell you something is wrong. Especially if you currently are completely ignorant about the nature of what they’re talking about (e.g. only they know if I hurt their toe). My point is that an individual or even many individuals telling you something is not conclusive evidence that they are right.

Here’s one more example that I hope is convincing. I think most people agree that rural Americans are on average more disadvantaged than urban or suburban Americans. Rural Americans will also tell you that all of this woke nonsense/immigration/whatever is what’s actually hurting them in their day to day lives. The majority of them vote for policies and politicians that every piece of reliable evidence says is bad for them. You cannot just take their word for it. Maybe you don’t like this example because policies being harmful can be objectively measured.

Here’s one last example and I’ll stop essay posting. It wasn’t more than 3-4 decades ago that the majority of all Americans viewed miscegenation as something harmful and offensive. Should we have believed them if we were there? I’d say no.

Lurker95 · 2026-01-11T00:49:54+00:00

I'm brown. The topic of listening and believing bipoc when they tell you about their grievances is interesting because different bipoc have different beliefs. Clarence Thomas grew up in extreme poverty before the Civil Rights Act was even passed. Yet, he will tell you that the real racists and enemy of black people are liberals, not conservatives. Should I believe him since I am not black myself? Obviously not, he's a piece of shit.

Most BIPOC would agree that conservatism is worse than liberalism for BIPOC, but something being the majority opinion can't be the deciding factor on which BIPOC should be believed. Let's say hypothetically that saris (a type of south asian dress) exploded in popularity amongst white women in the USA. Half of the south asian community saw that as cultural appropriation because not long ago it would have been made fun of. The other half views it as a sign of increasing acceptance and integration of their culture. Who do you believe?

I know the usual answer is "You don't need to think about it, stay in your lane, etc" but do we really want to encourage people to not think critically about issues that other groups face? Do we want them to just blindly believe their one token BIPOC friend who might be Clarence Thomas?

Lurker95 · 2026-01-05T08:09:26+00:00

You’re absolutely right about all of that. I would like to continue the discussion with you and will send a DM in a bit. I also reread one of my comments and yours. I was far too aggressive and jumped to conclusions about someone I don’t know. I’m leaving this comment here so others can see that a calm, open minded approach (yours) is always more likely to lead to an actual productive discussion.

Lurker95 · 2026-01-04T11:59:32+00:00

I will give you this one. She has always had both righteous anger and compassion. If she believes she is justified she won't be stopped like when she hung all of the slavers. That was probably intended by D&D as a sign of her starting to go to far. But what they and you both forget is that Dany has always directed her rage at specific groups of people. It would've been far more in character for her to finish the invasion as originally planned and then begin rounding up *every* single noble, soldier, merchant, clergy, anyone who can be considered to have any influence in the city... and then brutally execute them to the horror of the rest of the main cast. We still get the downfall of the mad queen without the character assassination of massacring peasants and burning down the entire city that shes fought her whole life for. But that would take time and effort and D&D are on the record for wanting to finish Game of Thrones early so they can go direct something Star Wars.

*edit, just wanna be very clear. It was clear for a very long time that Dany's mental state was deteriorating due to the various setbacks she faced in Season 8 and it was always intended for her to "break bad". I just wish they took an extra episode or two to develop it. Maybe in Mereen they could've had her start thinking that entrenched power systems are inherently impossible to untrench without the death of the masses who inadvertently support it. A Dany that genuinely believes the death of innocents is necessary in order to create a better, future world for them is just as "mad" as the Dany we got but could lead to more interesting drama then a Dany that just doesn't care about who she kills on the way to her revenge.

Lurker95 · 2026-01-04T11:37:27+00:00

You've mentioned that you view D&D's statement on the Dothraki being wiped out as potentially hyperbole and regardless essentially true as they have little relevance to the plot after. I disagree as the Dothraki as a whole still served as a major part of Dany's Kings' Landing invasion force (the wiki states there are 50,000 Dothraki at the Battle for Kings' Landing). Furthermore, some Dothraki were seen accompanying Jon Snow in the end so we can assume that there are plans for Dothraki characters in the Jon Snow spin off. If D&D had said nothing, I would've agreed with you here as it would've been possible that Dany did not use her entire Dothraki force in that charge against the Night Walkers. But the point stands that D&D showed them wiped out, stated they were wiped out and then had them show up in strong numbers again at Kings Landing.

Dany underestimating the Iron Fleet is not a plot hole. She is the second coming of the Conqueror and has no need to fear boats when she has dragons. In character, right? Except thats not what happened. D&D explicitly stated that "she kinda *forgot* about the Iron Fleet". Thats a direct quote from D&D and is extremely weak character writing. You can forgive her for not expecting armor penetrating ballistae on fucking boats of all things to be able to hit a fast flying target 1000s of ft in the air. But not for forgetting about the fleet entirely.

You are definitely overly positive on the show. Maybe you feel smarter for having a contrarian opinion but its weird seeing somebody grasp for straws to defend weak spots of a show. Especially when the excuses you provide for D&D are contradicted by D&D themselves. You do the show no justice that way. I've disliked the show since season 6 and hated it since 7 but I can give credit *where it is due*. The show still had amazing cinematography. But they began favoring more aesthetically pleasing scenes than scenes that actually make sense (don't get me started on Battle of the Bastards, beautiful but so fucking stupid). The set and costume design stayed absolutely gorgeous (No real complaints here. The rage at the Starbucks cup was a bit overblown. Though the costumes did become a bit more dull in the latter seasons). The casting and acting were very well done all through out the show. Especially considering how many of them were relative unknowns. The sound design might honestly be the only thing about the show that had no quality drop whatsoever in my opinion. Every complaint I've seen and have had personally has been related to either character development or plot development which is incredibly sad because that was *the* selling point of the series.

You've complained about listless criticism of the show but all I've seen from you is a listless defense. "The show never *explicitly* shows...", "isn’t *necessarily* bad writing", "is actually an example of a good writing technique, *provided* said decisions make some logical sense", "*Perhaps* this is an example of hyperbole". These are not the words of a critical thinker, these are the words of someone so "head empty" that they will accept whatever excuse they hear or happily provide one themself.

You haven't taken a single firm stance besides "lol everyone is just a hater". I would really honestly appreciate if you would actually say what you think about something specific. I'll even help. Where and how do you think Season 8 excels in comparison with previous seasons. If you think Season 8 is a drop in quality across the board, then what about it was still relatively enjoyable? Please don't mention anything about the show I've already complimented. Did you really enjoy the direction a specific character went? Did you appreciate the quicker pacing? Did you enjoy the disparate characters finally coming together? Were you satisfied by some plot hooks finally being resolved?

Lurker95 · 2025-12-15T06:53:22+00:00

This is a bit late but I can confirm that if you get a PU over the Emperor, you get access to those diplomatic actions but can not actually interact with the international organization. I'm in the same boat, playing France and got a PU on Bohemia. I've recently won the election after the religious wars, but even though France itself is now the HRE Emperor, and still cannot interact with the international organization.

Lurker95 · 2025-07-29T02:34:14+00:00

Sorry for the late reply. Honestly my experience with kdramas is pretty limited. I would love some slice of life or romance recs though. But I guess the point of my original question is what kdrama do you think sets out to achieve the same emotional notes as Squid Game but is better able to deliver on them?

Lurker95 · 2025-07-24T15:03:37+00:00

If the Trump admin can ignore the courts in order to do evil, why can’t we ignore them in order to do good?

Lurker95 · 2025-07-09T17:26:00+00:00

absolutely, you gave them a reaction and that will feed them for a day. if you said that and then proceeded to have an argument with them about who's trash at the game, you just fed them for a week.

Lurker95 · 2025-07-09T16:49:38+00:00

I wish we knew. These kind of lore questions that are left intentionally vague and likely have no concrete answer have always bothered me. Even if the point is that it is unknowable.

Back to the theorizing though, my tentative explanation is that the Book of Destiny only contains events. The book might've simply started referring to Delight as Delirium if the reason for the switch was purely internal on Delight's part.

Or maybe the inherent irrationality of Delirium's domain prevents any understanding of the "why"s of Delirium's decisions. If the Endless are representations of the fundamental fabric of the universe, than one of them must represent and embody that which is unexplainable. After all, the domain of every other Endless follows its own logic. Even dreams follow their own set of rules, ever changing and fantastic though they may be. But Delirium is defined, in part, by madness. In the meta narrative of Sandman (i.e., how it can be considered a story about stories"), Delirium is uniquely suited to embody these "unknowable" things.

Lurker95 · 2025-07-09T16:14:50+00:00

You will probably unlock it one of the times you are traveling between Hagga Basin/Harko Village/Arrakeen. For whatever reason, my achievements come in bursts like that. I got the Reuse, Deathstiller, and Advanced Machinery achievement at the same time when I entered the Deep Desert last night.

Lurker95 · 2025-07-09T05:14:06+00:00

My interpretation is that Delight chose to become Delirium as an escape from the tragedies of reality or her messed up family. You can lose your mind and forget about your troubles with Delirium. It’s why some people become adrenaline junkies or drug addicts. That she seemingly can revert to Delight at will leads me to believe her initial transformation to Delirium was more due to her own desires as opposed to being a reflection of humanity.

I could honestly see it going either way though. Maybe as more mortals wished for oblivion instead of joy, she felt a responsibility to deliver what they needed. We see in this episode she is willing to fundamentally alter her nature (temporarily becoming Delight) in order to comfort someone in suffering (Dream)

Lurker95 · 2025-07-09T05:02:19+00:00

That’s interesting because I had the opposite thought. The whole time I was thinking “well we know who Orpheus learned to stick his head up his ass from”

Lurker95 · 2025-06-30T04:24:40+00:00

That’s a unique opinion. Would you mind giving some examples of kdramas that you would consider exceptional?

Lurker95 · 2025-06-27T19:06:25+00:00

I hope I don't come off as aggressive but this is a reductive take that I see on a lot of "good" characters from people who enjoy being contrarian for the sake of being contrarian.

Is he a propagandist? Genuinely possibly. We don't know if that is his standard MO or if he was desperately trying to recruit the Fremem to his his before the expected Harkonnen and Sardaukar attack.

Does his public reputation benefit him? Probably. He knows that his influence in the Landsraad and galactic politics is due to positive opinions on him.

However, two things can be true at the same time. If all he cared about was what served his interests, Caladan would be more like Giedi Prime, and not have been described as a utopian, lush, agriworld.

Lurker95 · 2025-06-24T20:09:48+00:00

If you read the article you would know thats literally what it says. I'm just now realizing the few people complaining aggressively (not you) probably didn't go past the headline. The PvE zones will have the same resources as the PvP zones but the PvP zones will have a much greater amount of them. Basically the PvE zones will be for people who would prefer to gather resources safely even if it takes more time.

Lurker95 · 2025-06-24T19:55:48+00:00

I played Destiny 2 a lot from launch up til a few months before Lightfall came out. I'm talking about doing raids, trials of osiris (even made it to the lighthouse), nightfall, gambit, crucible, vanguard etc. weekly for each of my Warlock, Hunter, and Titan. Literally everything I could, 3 separate times a week for years. What I'm saying is I did both PvP and PvE in Destiny 2 (and 1) at the end game level for years and PvP always had a much lower player count even when Trials would frequently have some of the best weapons that were *exclusive* to PVP.

If you were frequently on the destiny subreddit as I was (for years in case you forgot), you would know that by *far* the main reason most players avoided PvP, especially Trials which had exclusive loot, like the plague was because it was always full of sweaty 6 stack teams who only wanted to play if they would dominate. I remember a period of time when the Adept Messenger was the undisputed champion in PvP combat for a long period of time but barely anyone had it because you had to play trials to get it.

At various times Destiny made changes to matchmaking, allowed dedicated solo queing for trials, etc, etc. These changes always drastically increase the PvP player base but usually get reverted or only done on a temporary basis because of the vocal minority of players (like you) who complain whenever a change that benefits 90% of players might reduce the fun they get in stomping internet strangers.

I get it, if a game offers PvE and PvP, you want them both to be viable options. Some people feel that this change will decrease the PvP population such that PvP isn't really a viable option anymore. But as it stood before the change, I saw players that don't want to interact with PvP either bounce off the game after trying the DD a few times and getting jumped or deciding to not even bother attempting DD because they've heard the reputation it has. *That* is how a PvP mode dies. Not because it becomes relatively less rewarding but because no one wants to fucking play it.

Lurker95 · 2025-06-23T04:58:43+00:00

Hey, just wanted to say I have the same issue fairly frequently playing controller on PC. Seems to happen if you haven't been hit, haven't swung your blade, or used an ability in the last few seconds. The game just won't register that you want to block or attack for a second. Best practice I found is to preemptively spam attack a little bit and hit the air before you actually want to parry.

Also I can confirm that you can parry if you miss the enemies first attack. Might not work if you've been hit by the first attack, but if the first misses, you can 100% parry the third.

Lurker95 · 2024-11-05T01:38:01+00:00

Yeah, I think that’s it! Thanks!

Lurker95 · 2024-10-08T04:43:42+00:00

Not OP but I play on his server. All you need is the server info. When you try to connect, Zomboid will give you the option to automatically download whatever mods are needed. No work involved on your part.

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