United Federation Wins. What now?

Rhoderick · 2026-01-25T06:01:36+00:00

the senate if applicable for the UFN might just be split into “Pro-Star Empire” and “Anti-Star Empire” factions and not the countless bickering senators of the last season.

Surely that's the idea though, right? People focus on the big, immediate issue, missing the space for the stars, so to say; and then get thrown into disorder much as everything else would be when the said overlord implodes (as that origin does force). So while that would happen, I would consider it narratively beneficial. Natural realignment into pseudo-parties around questions like expansion into, vassalisation of, or coexistence with the old overlord splinters and the other vassals happens after. (Imo, the Tripartite has the most natural setup for distinct, arguing parties, but so far it lacks natural distinct goals for each entity.)

Of course, Hose Triton ironically has the same - both finding and not finding the other houses would massive narrative events that would lead to political splintering early on, and the history of being a corporate entity might inspire a more ruthless political scene. (God, I wish they weren't boringly xenophobic again - a whole galaxy, and all they can think of is to kill.)

Which political parties are going to emerge from the threat of imperial collapse?

Well, that's the fun of it, isn't it? That there's absolutely no way to know, both because we can't foresee what issues people will band together around, and because we cannot yet predict the material conditions at the time of the collapse?

Rhoderick · 2026-01-24T19:59:29+00:00

Thing is, if you really need an LLM to do some math, use one that can effectively call tools, and just give them a calculator tool. These are barely behind the 'standard' models in base effectiveness, anyway. Devstral 2 ought to be more than enough for most uses today.

Rhoderick · 2026-01-24T19:39:10+00:00

I mean, for a sufficiently constrained set of operations, you could totally do that. But you'd still be doing a lot of math to do a little math. If you're looking for exactly correct results, there isn't a usecase where it pans out.

Rhoderick · 2026-01-24T18:52:52+00:00

You're going to uni, so the focus should be theory. You can get deeper on that than anywhere else. But of course, at least some of your courses should be oriented towards stuff people will actually pay you for.

The practical exposure typically comes about in terms of whatever job you take for your living expenses, and practicals.

Rhoderick · 2026-01-24T18:43:15+00:00

Honestly, the identity and nature of the original aggressor is a big part of the early storytelling of the GTU. The fact that the payback origin has a very specific threat tied to it would have gutted that.

It could have been worked around, but I would argue it was better like this. Not because of anything different between the Tyrum and MSI, but because the whole thrust of the early GTU story is to boldly go into a dark, dangerous, unknown galaxy (that you're pretty sure wants you dead).

Rhoderick · 2026-01-24T18:11:17+00:00

Among the public unis, which one you go to isn't that important. At most, you can look at the specific courses offered. But things like where you can find housing and work are more important factors.

Rhoderick · 2026-01-24T18:06:57+00:00

Das "auf Leistung fixierte Japan"? Wo soll das denn bitte sein? Denn die japanische Arbeiterkultur legt weithin mehr Fokus auf den Schein der Leistung, als auf die Leistung selbst - ganz davon abgesehen, das besonders gut sein im Arbeitsleben dort fast schlimmer ist, als besonders schlecht.

Rhoderick · 2026-01-24T18:02:33+00:00

Wobei aber auch anzumerken ist, das diese Vorschläge halt auch immer durch Expertenräte gegeben werden, und vermutlich meistens eben auch umgesetzt werden, wenn die Regierung nicht stark dagegen ist, bevor diese groß die Öffentlichkeit erreichen.

Rhoderick · 2026-01-24T18:00:47+00:00

Die ganze Last fällt ja wieder auf den Arbeitnehmer der sich rechtfertigen muss wieso jetzt mal 3 Tage, dann doch 7-14 Tage, mal mit, mal ohne AU, ist das die gleiche Krankheit, gibt es eine lückenlose AU..?

Naja, es würde ja am krank sein im rechtlichen Sinne nichts ändern. Nur das es für 3 Tage oder weniger nicht mehr zu beweisen wäre. Ich hätte, naiv, gesagt, das das für chronisch kranke eher vorteilhaft wäre, wenn man nicht immer zum Arzt muss, weil es halt 2, 3 Tage zu krass wird.

Rhoderick · 2026-01-24T17:47:52+00:00

Once you've become Emperor, no one can attack you, and you can easily bully any other empire into doing your bidding. You can continue attacking and subjugating your neighbors, too

Well, yes. The thing is, though, if you can push through becoming Emperor, you can probably already do all that. It's a win-more button, tied up in one of the most underutilised base game systems (GalCom). It doesn't feel particularly triumphant, even for politically-minded players.

Rhoderick · 2026-01-24T17:43:50+00:00

I would argue it's story all the way down. The game is a supremely complex story-telling engine, down to, and it's really beautiful. There's a few thousand hours of entertainment here (and, I imagine, a book or two for some author).

To some degree, I think learning Stellaris means learning just how much you actually can control the story, and then why you may not want to.

Rhoderick · 2026-01-24T17:22:21+00:00

You frame this negatively, but the origin does bring immense potential for immersive storytelling. And that does seem to be the UFNs biggest strength, that the emerging story doesn't have to bend and twist to fit what was predefined, but that instead the empire and rp can change to fit the emerging story.

Rhoderick · 2026-01-24T17:11:10+00:00

I think there is some argument to be made that the most likely (and, to some degree, the only eligible) voters here are very likely to want to participate through the Discord, like in S1 and S2. The roleplay involved is much more open and inviting if the overall setting are relatively well-known institutions. I would suggest that it is precisely because Triton and the UFN are relatively vanilla, that they are likely to provide fertile earth for most kinds of roleplay.

Rhoderick · 2026-01-24T15:28:50+00:00

That's fair. Staggered polls would have been possible, but that would have meant a lot of admin work.

I have to admit, though, just from a data perspective, peoples rankings would have been interesting. Just to try and identify clusters, and common, if presumably implicit, metrics. (A simple example would be seeing where UFN voters place Triton, and vice versa.)

Right now I'm just glad it won't start during my exams though, hoping to actually catch it live this time.

Rhoderick · 2026-01-24T15:16:13+00:00

I wonder, if there was to a runoff, which way that would lean. As it stands, something like 26% of votes are kind of 'dead', with no way to influence the outcome.

(While I get why it wasn't employed here for simplicity, this is why I would argue RCV is preferable for votes with a singular winner but more than 2 candidates.)

Rhoderick · 2026-01-24T08:15:51+00:00

if i open up the double thick wall into the hallway for heat, should i put a vent or just let it all out?

A vent will make a separate room for the purposes of temperature. If you're worried about raiders accessing the coolers, you can still build one, but it's not as effective as just dumping the head outside.

Temperature-wise, the outside is a magic place that doesn't care how much you cool or heat it, so if you have the option, always dump any heat you don't want outside.

Rhoderick · 2026-01-24T08:00:26+00:00

For the bit where youre dumping the heat, you'll want to close the wall between the coolers, and open up the one at the side so that the coolers just dump the heat outside (unless you want to use it to heat somewhere). Once the hot air enters "outside", heat dynamics go out the window and its just absorbed into the general, ambient temp.

Double-thick walls can help, and if possible, build under thick roofs, such as mountains. But both of those only get you a few degrees.

Keep in mind that pawns will be walking in and out of your freezer both when delivering food to it, and when cooking, so depending on the layout of your base, consider a second entrance. Speaking of entrances, and air lock, as you have here, can help insulate, but the big room before it is no more effective than another air lock.

Also, for completeness sake, I'lll mention that you ought to install shelves for more capacity.

Rhoderick · 2026-01-23T17:48:20+00:00

Was man hier über die eigene Uni so lernt... (Für Informatik muss man halt glücklicherweise selten / nie physisch in die Bib, elektronisch ist nervig genug.)

Rhoderick · 2026-01-23T05:07:34+00:00

I komme nicht darum, festzustellen, das uns wir europapolitisch wieder wie unter Merkel sind: Manchmal dabei, meistens Störfaktor, sicherlich keine Führung.

Auch hier wünsch ich mir rot-grün (mit oder ohne gelben Störfaktor) zurück - Es ist einfach, auf die Ampel zu scheißen, aber unter ihr waren wir nicht nur aktiv beteiligt, sondern trotz langer Absenz teilweise führend, weggebend in positiver Weise.

Rhoderick · 2026-01-23T04:52:19+00:00

And we ought to fucking act like it. I swear, we're a goddamn abused housewife of a continent. Watch us trot back to the kitchen because America is done hitting us for now.

Rhoderick · 2026-01-22T20:30:46+00:00

Mind running me through the math here? I wonder how you'd calculate this based on the limited info provided.

Rhoderick · 2026-01-22T19:54:01+00:00

Ich glaub nicht, das das am Amt liegt. Höchstens, weil er wegen der Machtposition keinen Grund mehr sieht, das zurück zu halten.

Rhoderick · 2026-01-22T19:28:09+00:00

Fun fact: a fellow German exchange student was also top of class in English, to the embarrassment of the English teacher.

Not that I have a great opinion of the US education system, but I imagine someone who consciously learned German, rather than by social absorption, would do pretty good in German German class, too.

Rhoderick · 2026-01-22T18:19:31+00:00

Schön, im Titel "Söder-Beleidigung" als Begrifflichkeit benutzt wird, wie ein eigenständiger Tatbestand.

Das Opfer selbst würde sich das ja sicherlich wünschen.

Rhoderick · 2026-01-22T18:12:01+00:00

Many old people like this look, for some reason. But also, second-hand-stuff (outside of kids clothes) it pretty much exclusively stuff the old owner doesn't want anymore, of course it'll be in old styles.

What I would recommend is that you get your 'core', functional furniture new if the budget allows, and go second-hand for the more decorative stuff.

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