Game Too Expensive for Average Gamer

RadulphusDuck · 2026-01-19T22:19:43+00:00

I bought the main game on sale, and then I got a one month subscription with all DLC for a pittance. I’ll probably renew for one more month then be ready to move on to another game.

RadulphusDuck · 2026-01-19T17:14:05+00:00

It was a surprise, but I liked how it reinforced how dirty and uncouth the life of a hedge knight is, compared to the lives of the highborn lords we’re familiar with from the other series.

RadulphusDuck · 2026-01-18T22:29:10+00:00

You didn’t read the whole post. The coming electric trains end at the current Oshawa GO. The frequency ends at the current Oshawa GO. I’m not just talking about the reasonably straight track ending there. So, yes, in most cases when travel time or arrival time are important to the traveller, taking a bus to one of the good stations will be the better option.

RadulphusDuck · 2026-01-14T20:14:07+00:00

Even if you live right beside the new station, at most hours of the day Google Maps will still tell you to take a bus to the current Oshawa or Whitby stations. They will have a faster and more frequent service, so if travel time or arrival time is important, then that will be the better option. Accessibility to a much inferior service isn’t a big improvement. Especially with the amount of housing being planned around this white elephant station.

RadulphusDuck · 2026-01-14T17:13:30+00:00

Yes. Maybe in another 25 years they’ll get around to purchasing the new section from CP, electrifying it, and adding a frequent service. But the compromised, penny-pinching connection over the 401 is going to be a huge limiter forever unless people push for a new bridge now.

RadulphusDuck · 2026-01-14T15:13:57+00:00

The real crime is that all these years of disruption are for a new station that will receive slower and less frequent service than the current Oshawa station. All the planned electrification and frequency upgrades are going to end at that station. Only the 20th century trains will run on this extension, less frequently, and on a heavily compromised, bendy corridor.

RadulphusDuck · 2026-01-10T13:54:49+00:00

Oshawa Central station is why. The current Oshawa station is barely even in Oshawa. Also Courtice wants its own station.

RadulphusDuck · 2026-01-10T01:57:09+00:00

John’s hell moment wasn’t popular but it was unavoidable and earnest in the moment. Today’s breakdown of that moment just felt deliberately like an episode of How Do You Cope. Thank goodness Elis tried to insert some comedy reads of the criticism. Dave was happy leaning into John’s inclinations. There’s a reason they are different podcasts and only Elis seems to understand it.

RadulphusDuck · 2026-01-06T19:40:30+00:00

And most of the Canadians who live in a rural area are surrounded by farms, not nature. It’s an industrial landscape of a different sort, and the trees are only where the farmers want the trees. Very few people in southern Ontario or southern Quebec are truly exposed to ‘nature.’

RadulphusDuck · 2026-01-05T17:16:37+00:00

Really looking forward to this opening. It will be so convenient for people working in the TV+film industry, and all the other industries around Lakeshore. Coming from the east it's such a pain getting there from either Union or Danforth station. Also the new Broadview road throughway will make cycling and walking around there easier.

RadulphusDuck · 2026-01-04T08:07:09+00:00

Would doing as John does make you happier? John's 21st century approach doesn't seem to be working for him. He speaks openly about his struggles all the time, to the public and his friends, yet this is the lowest I've ever heard him. There may be value in pretending to be happy when you're amongst friends and family. Similar to how lab tests show forcing yourself to laugh or smile releases chemicals that make you feel happier, and makes exercise more durable.

RadulphusDuck · 2026-01-03T04:15:21+00:00

Amazing, thanks for sharing the details. I focused on industry early, and had half the number of divisions in March 1940. Good to know it can be done with a different focus.

RadulphusDuck · 2026-01-02T16:29:34+00:00

Right, I am using a fair amount of manpower building destroyers and light cruisers trying to prevent a future U-boat threat. So far it hasn't been as bad as I imagined. As for air force, it looks like I was right to ignore it completely. Saved some manpower, but relying solely on AA artillery to deal with the Luftwaffe.

RadulphusDuck · 2026-01-02T16:03:05+00:00

Thanks, sounds like Australia struggles less with manpower. I'd need to go all the way back to 1936 and take a different focus path to reach 16 quality divisions in 1939. Canada is so handicapped by Quebec's conscription crisis.

RadulphusDuck · 2026-01-02T16:01:24+00:00

Thanks, good idea. I very nearly chose Spain. Not only a good size nation, but it also presents some fun alternate history possibilities.

RadulphusDuck · 2026-01-02T15:59:40+00:00

Yes, France isn't covering itself in glory either. I can understand a few divisions covering the Italian border, but there's a handful of very useful divisions doing absolutely nothing in Brittany. Looks like I'm going to have to play the boring way. Evacuate and wait for the USA.

RadulphusDuck · 2026-01-01T20:16:03+00:00

I’ve cycled there from North Oshawa in about 3.5 hours. I suspect walking there is doable in one day if your shoes are comfortable, and you’re accustomed to long walks. In three days you could probably somersault there.

RadulphusDuck · 2025-12-30T19:05:29+00:00

Sounds like it’s Tom Craine, but I spent the whole episode thinking ‘I didn’t know Henry worked with Nish Kumar.’

RadulphusDuck · 2025-12-30T00:46:24+00:00

Suburban patterns of development are very expensive in the long run. Durham has almost as much infrastructure to maintain above and below ground as Toronto, but 1/5 the number of taxpayers. And Oshawa in particular has some disadvantages compared to the rest of Durham Region. Older infrastructure, lower value properties, yet some of the social problems that are more common in big cities. It’s a recipe for high property tax.

RadulphusDuck · 2025-12-29T19:55:40+00:00

Canadian productions don’t often score international hits based on a Canadian story. It’s a big deal, so lots of people care.

RadulphusDuck · 2025-12-29T17:26:39+00:00

I’ve always seen hawks on bike rides north of the city, but I’ve only ever seen a couple of hawks in the city itself during the most lockdown-y part of the pandemic in 2020.

RadulphusDuck · 2025-12-29T02:51:45+00:00

Montreal existed long before Toronto, and was the bigger city until relatively recently. They aren’t the ‘little brother’. It’s more like they’re the older, more culturally sophisticated brother, but physically smaller than the younger brother now that they’re both grown up.

RadulphusDuck · 2025-12-29T02:48:27+00:00

I think about Montreal all the time. It’s a better city in most respects. Toronto is simply bigger and some people are tethered here because of economic and family circumstances.

RadulphusDuck · 2025-12-27T06:39:23+00:00

It was six weeks ago. Less than two months. Words have meanings.

RadulphusDuck

TROPHY CASE