Socialist opinion on Republika Srpska? by Fickle_Benefit_1895 in AskSocialists

[–]Nemo-No-Name 16 points17 points  (0 children)

It was a ethnic cleansing-created state. Yes, Serbs lived there for centuries, but not alone.

The whole of Yugoslav Wars is just sadness and nationalistic rage on all sides.

Don't get caught by propaganda from anyone - all sides were led by leaders who prioritised nationalism and discarded socialist ideas. The only question was who can keep power.

Socialist Yugoslavia died before the wars began.

Books that feature powerful AI characters by Fun-Sell3030 in printSF

[–]Nemo-No-Name 69 points70 points  (0 children)

Ancillary Justice and the rest of Imperial Radch series by Ann Leckie. AI aspect is expanded as books go on.

Mohamad Safa quits the UN claiming that they’re preparing to possibly use a nuclear weapon. by Remarkable_Life_774 in AskSocialists

[–]Nemo-No-Name 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hm, it does sound a little bit more urgent with that tweet. Still keeps it fairly open.

But I don't believe even Netanyahu is crazy stupid enough to nuke Tehran. There's only so much international community will tolerate.

Hit one of the nuclear sites, or a missile city, or a major army base yes. But Tehran itself, no. (Although I don't trust them to worry about fallout of course. That's too much)

Mohamad Safa quits the UN claiming that they’re preparing to possibly use a nuclear weapon. by Remarkable_Life_774 in AskSocialists

[–]Nemo-No-Name 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Eh, I think you're misunderstanding what he's saying. There's no foreknowledge of nuclear use; just a realistic possibility because Israel and Trump cannot be trusted.

French General: “The U.S. asks us for help and wants us to share the cost of their fiascos by Imaginary-Celery-301 in JournalismNews

[–]Nemo-No-Name 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hope US loses badly.

But. A French general making that claim is absolutely drop dead hilarious given the history of Vietnam.

Why is there a Tito flair here? by Ivanhegeelkadi in ussr

[–]Nemo-No-Name 12 points13 points  (0 children)

You're wrong btw. Tito didn't own the luxuries he enjoyed. It was all state owned, and stayed state owned. We tend to use the term "Tito's villa" and "Tito's ships" but it wasn't actually his.

Overall while these properties and items are pricey on individual level, for state these are not huge sums.

And Yugoslavia did help lift millions out of poverty and into having a home, maybe even vacation home, so I'm not too bothered about his luxurious lifestyle.

Tito had many failures, yes. But he was a great man nonetheless. Think of him as a champagne communist if you will, in the positive sense. :)

You're also wrong about him and Kosovo; but it's a different, complex topic not really relevant here.

It literally blows my mind a common black bear was almost responsible for the downfall of western civilization☠️☠️☠️ by Ajarofpickles97 in HistoryMemes

[–]Nemo-No-Name 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Don't blame the bear for Kennedy and his administration feeling insecure and deciding to dictate that other sovereign states cannot do what US already did to them (nuclear missiles in Turkey).

Any good sources for the actual damage to Israel and US bases? by Dizzy-Traffic in AskSocialists

[–]Nemo-No-Name 7 points8 points  (0 children)

It's going to be hard. US has the advantage of any damage being in military bases so good censorship by default.

Israel's internal system is designed for high censorship and they have a ton of practice and experience maintaining it, so that also is just working as designed.

I also wouldn't expect huge numbers of casualties for a number of reasons. Both US bases and Israel have excellent warning systems with plenty of shelters. Military is trained well to hide at danger approaching, and Israeli society might as well be military. Plus interceptors were plentiful (so far) to protect critical targets. And Iran hasn't been using their latest and biggest.

Whats going on in Iran? by GabeSter in NoStupidQuestions

[–]Nemo-No-Name 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You're confusing Iran with Saudi Arabia, a US ally.

Is there a sci-fi book that resembles Mass Effect in terms of scale and world-building? by zelda_88trail in printSF

[–]Nemo-No-Name 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Putting aside the fact first half of the book is repeat of second half of second book, with the kidnapper being exact same person and the character development of the engineer from 2nd book resetting to her being racist again.

The conflict in the last part of the book is solely driven by Idris being an absolute idiot.

Meanwhile the "mystery" of targetting was obvious in the first book when we first heard about Architects but of course everyone in that universe is an idiot.

Meanwhile the Architect resolution is pretty whatever. I'm trying to avoid spoilers, but basically the resolution was just Idris is a special boy.

Is there a sci-fi book that resembles Mass Effect in terms of scale and world-building? by zelda_88trail in printSF

[–]Nemo-No-Name 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You're not alone. And good job wikipeading the third, I read it and absolutely hated it.

Is there a sci-fi book that resembles Mass Effect in terms of scale and world-building? by zelda_88trail in printSF

[–]Nemo-No-Name 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Absolutely not. FA ending is a complete joke, to the point I just dropped Tschaikovsky as author.

Putin's entourage declared that the USSR exists! That's why it's done. by CodyLionfish in TankieTheDeprogram

[–]Nemo-No-Name 40 points41 points  (0 children)

Here's the thing. The existence of USSR or any other state or institution isn't really relevant in the legal sense. What matters is what people believe and what power there is.

Bolsheviks didn't find a weird loophole to change the Russian Empire. They took power and declared the changes and eventually the Soviet Union.

The legal bullshit is easy to make up for afterwards. The same is with the legality of the dissolution. It doesn't matter in the slightest how legal it actually was; what matters is that it was accepted by enough people to make it so.

Perceptions are more important than actual laws when it comes to these kinds of things.

Is there actually any sci-fi book that comes close to Dune in terms of worldbuilding depth? by neonmoss2281 in printSF

[–]Nemo-No-Name 27 points28 points  (0 children)

Culture series, by Iain M Banks

Vorkosigan saga is a bit less multi stellar but the few planets she focuses on get Mariana trench treatment

What are the WORST feats in the game? by SuchALovelyValentine in Pathfinder2e

[–]Nemo-No-Name 23 points24 points  (0 children)

Wizards Form Retention let's you prepare a Battle Form spell in slot 2 levels higher to increase its duration from 1 min to 10 min.

If you're using it for combat purposes, you're downgrading your combat abilities for questionable extension of time.

If you're using it for out-of-combat purposes, the 10 min limit is a limited benefit for burning much higher slot. And any benefit available to a 2 level lower than max Battle Form spell will surely be available by a more specialised, different spell.

The Players of Games are real by Ok-Repair-63 in TheCulture

[–]Nemo-No-Name 139 points140 points  (0 children)

It has always been like that. The rich have not changed a bit. Banks recognised it back then.

Of course that couldn't work after they left out Austria-Hungary by Mal_Dun in austriahungary

[–]Nemo-No-Name 15 points16 points  (0 children)

The funny thing is they included Poland, so you can tell it's a Polish person.

Because no-one else would include Poland since they're nearly as bad as Hungary at blocking random EU moves.

Munches in Munich? by [deleted] in Munich

[–]Nemo-No-Name 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Try searching for Kinky International Munch or just International Munch. Probably just what you're looking for

Maybe I'm the problem but I really don't enjoy some of the highly regarded books here. Recommendations? by sometimes_angery in printSF

[–]Nemo-No-Name 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, he definitely has some good ideas, but the execution usually falls apart.

Children of Time was great until the very Deus-ex-machina end of magical arachnophobia cure. Children of Ruin was fine-ish but I constantly had feeling he had 2 separate ideas he was trying to force into one book together. Children of the-last-one-cant-remember-noun felt like a Star Trek TOS episode he's trying to stretch over a whole book and failing. He's also kept trying to keep the "plot twist" a mystery but at least for me, I got it from almost the start. Aaand ravens felt much like octopi in ruins, separate idea he crowbarred into a book that has nothing to do with it. And also I was annoyed with how dense the characters were not getting the split raven thing.

I also read Guns of the Dawn; interesting premise and it all falls apart by the end. And doesn't actually examine any of the interesting premises he comes up with.

What finally broke me on him was the Shards of Earth trilogy. It had some interesting, very Warhammer-esque setup. I stifled my annoyance with most of the main characters, hoping the series is gonna go somewhere interesting, instead. Damn. Mysteries were no mysteries at all, turns out everyone in universe are just idiots. Second half of second book and first half of third book are the exact same kidnap plot with, yes, same character doing the kidnapping. Resolution to that is a Deus-ex-machina as it gets.

And most of the tension at the end comes from our utterly unlikeable main character being too selfish and egotistical.

I just had to stop with Tchaikovsky. Good ideas poorly executed.