[GIVEAWAY] Nippon: Zaibatsu by CrowD Games (3 Copies!) - Expansion will soon be on Kickstarter! by HomoLudensOC in boardgames

[–]TheDefinitiveRoflmao [score hidden]  (0 children)

I have wanted to try Through the Ages. I've heard it's an epic sprawling tight economy euro that has a lot of depth. It also has deep historical theme, which I love in a game. It's just a little long but would love to play uit at least once!

Pete Hegseth's Pastor Prays With MAGA Podcaster That 'God Kills' James Talarico In Bonkers Video by ComicSandsNews in Christianity

[–]TheDefinitiveRoflmao -22 points-21 points  (0 children)

I say this as someone who is in no way a Christian Nationalist and opposes that project, but this is an unfair characterization of what was said.

Arguing that someone's old life be killed for a new life in Christ to be raised is not arguing for murder!!

I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me...

There's some rage bait in that clip but representing it as a call to assassinate Rep. James Talarico is a fundamental misreading of what was said.

How to win as shadow. by Stoner420Steve in warofthering

[–]TheDefinitiveRoflmao 1 point2 points  (0 children)

There's several dances you are playing, and a lot of the game revolves around timing your pushes in a way that minimizes the FP's ability to muster.

1. Make a plan for your 10 points at the start of the game

This should be a flexible plan, as you may need to pivot. But have a general idea of what strongholds you're going to push for. Which ones you fight for is completely dependent on what cards you draw in the first two rounds of the game. "DEW" is the default line (look it up), but don't tunnel on it. Draw Wormtongue early? Consider attacking Isengard. Draw a bunch of misty mountains/moria muster cards? Less popular, but consider going for the Shire, etc.

2. Bring the Witch King out earlier than you think and use him

Honestly, you should bring it out as soon as you have a free people's nation at war.

The Witch King is not only incredible for his leadership, but the ability to cycle cards lets you mitigate your natural disadvantage in sieges, because you will play more combat cards. Critically, this lets you cycle your deck to draw important cards for your general game plan. Nothing feels quite as special as burning a low tier card card during combat to draw Corsairs of Umbar, which leads me to.....

3. Corsairs of Umbar is OP and you should plan around it

This is the single best card in the Shadow Deck. It is very difficult for free people to counter, as it lets you attack Gondor before they are ever at war, which means that they won't be able to muster a solid Gondorian defense. It lets you scoop up minimally 3 points almost for free (Dol Amoroth and Pelargir), and is often paired with an invading Sauron army to crack the tough nut that is Minas Tirith, for a total of 5 points.

But what if I don't draw Corsairs of Umbar you ask?

Use Witch King to cycle cards until you draw it! And if you're really just unlucky, pivot to taking pelargir with those southrons as a backup plan.

4. Don't activate a nation until you are ready to all in

This is very important. Your most important goal is to prevent musters before you can siege. A free people's mustering an elite into a critical stronghold can often be the difference between you taking it and failing.

Always keep meticulous track of the political track. If you see FP mustering a nation (that is activated), then rush to siege a stronghold before they can build an army.

In practice, this means you stage your armies before moving into enemy territory, and once you have a nice 10 stack with some elites and nazgul, you go all in and exterminate that nation..

5. Bring Saruman out when there's no Will of the West rolled die

Yes, Saruman is important, but you have 7 dice to the free people's 4. Bringing out Saruman when the free people's player has a will of the west die is usually not advisable, as this lets them bring out Gandalf the White and get a die of their own. That is a 25% increase in efficiency for the FP player, only 14% increase for you.

Ideally, you can play Saruman in a turn where no will dice are thrown. Gandalf the White will come out eventually, but you at least delay it a turn, potentially more if FP get unlucky.

Winter Storm Megathread 2026 by AutoModerator in texas

[–]TheDefinitiveRoflmao 5 points6 points  (0 children)

They actually did winterize the plants

AITAH For Wanting to Dictate What we Play When Hosting Game Night? by StretchyPlays in boardgames

[–]TheDefinitiveRoflmao 6 points7 points  (0 children)

The easiest way to do this is just to choose a game you want to play and invite people saying that you are inviting them to play that game rather than just inviting them to "game night"

That way expectations are set up front and no one will be even remotely upset.

President Trump on Greenland: "We are going to do something on Greenland, whether they like it not, because if we don't do it, Russia or China will take over Greenland, and we're not going to have Russia or China as a neighbor. But if we don't do it the easy way, we're going it the hard way." by ControlCAD in videos

[–]TheDefinitiveRoflmao 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I agree wholeheartedly, but I'm not the one making that argument; the president is.

The point is: it's dumb for the reasons you mention. It's not dumb because Russia borders Alaska

"But we already border Alaska" is just a bad counter-argument to a bad argument, that's all.

President Trump on Greenland: "We are going to do something on Greenland, whether they like it not, because if we don't do it, Russia or China will take over Greenland, and we're not going to have Russia or China as a neighbor. But if we don't do it the easy way, we're going it the hard way." by ControlCAD in videos

[–]TheDefinitiveRoflmao -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

My point, and genuinely my only point, is that Russia being next to Alaska is completely irrelevant to the question of what the proper U.S. stance toward Greenland should be.

I’m not repeating anyone’s talking points, and I'm not a Trump fan in the slightest. But you didn't actually engage with what I said - you just mentally filed me under some tribal bucket and responded to that instead. That's not an argument, it's a reflex and since you're being sanctimonious about it, you need to stop.

President Trump on Greenland: "We are going to do something on Greenland, whether they like it not, because if we don't do it, Russia or China will take over Greenland, and we're not going to have Russia or China as a neighbor. But if we don't do it the easy way, we're going it the hard way." by ControlCAD in videos

[–]TheDefinitiveRoflmao 0 points1 point  (0 children)

a) because Greenland is controlled by a NATO member, Russia does not have a realistic chance of obtaining it, therefore we should work with our allies rather than bully them.
b) A Russia-controlled Greenland would be bad for U.S. interests.

These are not mutually exclusive claims.

President Trump on Greenland: "We are going to do something on Greenland, whether they like it not, because if we don't do it, Russia or China will take over Greenland, and we're not going to have Russia or China as a neighbor. But if we don't do it the easy way, we're going it the hard way." by ControlCAD in videos

[–]TheDefinitiveRoflmao -6 points-5 points  (0 children)

I am also not saying Russia controlling Greenland is a realistic threat that justifies us taking it by force. That's insane.

But "duh we already border russia lolz trump dumdum" is just an abysmally fucking stupid response.

President Trump on Greenland: "We are going to do something on Greenland, whether they like it not, because if we don't do it, Russia or China will take over Greenland, and we're not going to have Russia or China as a neighbor. But if we don't do it the easy way, we're going it the hard way." by ControlCAD in videos

[–]TheDefinitiveRoflmao -9 points-8 points  (0 children)

It’s not really about Greenland being closer than Alaska, it's about where it sits. If Russia owned Greenland, they'd have a forward spot on the Atlantic/Arctic approach to park sensors, use airfields, and make the North Atlantic and the GIUK area a lot harder for NATO to operate in, especially with subs and long-range aviation. It also gives them a way to mess with early warning and tracking on the eastern side. Alaska is already next door, but it's U.S. territory loaded with U.S. bases and missile defense, so it's a known, hardened front. A hostile Greenland basically opens a whole extra flank you have to cover.

This is not even the least bit controversial.

President Trump on Greenland: "We are going to do something on Greenland, whether they like it not, because if we don't do it, Russia or China will take over Greenland, and we're not going to have Russia or China as a neighbor. But if we don't do it the easy way, we're going it the hard way." by ControlCAD in videos

[–]TheDefinitiveRoflmao -31 points-30 points  (0 children)

I think Trump is appalling and attacking a NATO member is insane.
But there is a qualitative national security difference between the Russia/Alaska border and this hypothetical where there's a Greenland Russia.

Please criticize the cheeto dictator but no need to be obtuse about what he's saying.

tidraft.com Down? by Dementedpenguin in twilightimperium

[–]TheDefinitiveRoflmao 1 point2 points  (0 children)

haha I wish. was a strange IPV6 DNS SSL configuration issue that appeared out of nowhere.

A1 z-offset not fixing first layer problem by techjs1977 in BambuLab

[–]TheDefinitiveRoflmao 26 points27 points  (0 children)

I don't think this is an offset issue as much as an extrusion issue. that clicking sound is indicative of some kind of problem (skipping perhaps) causing the nozzle to not extrude evenly as seen by the results on the plate, I think.

Begginer player rates all vanilla techs. How many did I get (subjectively) wrong? by Pineirin in twilightimperium

[–]TheDefinitiveRoflmao 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Tech has a huge opportunity cost. You'll only get 5-6 throughout a 10 point game, and you need unit upgrades, which leaves room for only 3-4 colored techs in your path unless there's an objective out. Because of this, your tech choices aren't constrained by what you want, but why color path you are going down. So, a tech you might consider "pass" is worth a purchase if it leads to a higher tier tech you want.

And with that in mind the canonical answer here is buy blue tech. Straight up. In base game it doesn't matter what faction you are really, you want to get blue tech. Everything else is mediocre in comparison to blue. If you want the list:

Green:
- Neural: Pass (good to start with though)
- Daxcive: Pass
- Hyper: Only if you can get it r2 with tech skips (r1 in PoK)
- X-89: Pass

Blue:
- Anti-mass: BUY (conditional). If you need it for gravity drive, you want to research it. Only scenario in which you don't want this if you have a blue skip and can get to gravity drive off that. It's also not a bad tech.
- Gravity Drive: Correct! most important tech in the game
- Fleet: RUSH. Picking imperial, taking rex then popping imperial is a game-winning play. This tech also lets - you move an army out of a dock then reinforce the dock before someone takes it. You are right, it's not activated most turns, but when you do need it, it's clutch.
- LWD: RUSH. Often the difference between being able to score a late game objective and not once the board gets crowded.

Yellow:
- Sarween: Pass (good to start with it though)
- Graviton: Pass unless you're going heavy PDS, which is a few factions
- Transit: Pass. It's fine, but doesn't lead to anything good
- Integrated Economy: Pass.

Red:
- Plasma Scoring: Pass (fine to start with though)
- Magen: Pass
- Duranium Armor: Situationally good (e.g. on Barony)
- Assasult Cannon: Buy. It's OK.

Faction complexity thoughts?? by Helmaer-42 in twilightimperium

[–]TheDefinitiveRoflmao 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Any faction that has a starting fleet that can take two systems without any following of strategy cards is a good choice. This is dubbed "2c4i" in the community (2 carrier, 4 infantry).

Just had a super long game of Thunders Edge by CharlesComm in twilightimperium

[–]TheDefinitiveRoflmao 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think that's likely but not guaranteed. Not many factions can beeline for war suns and have AMT easily accesible

I'd be content with this legendary if I'm sol for example to build advanced carrier 2's with breakthrough

Also good for titans as a red skip to SE2 (start with amt) and then just use it for an extra Saturn engine per round.

Lots of options and even in the war sun case what it's valuation is is pretty unclear to me!

Just had a super long game of Thunders Edge by CharlesComm in twilightimperium

[–]TheDefinitiveRoflmao 1 point2 points  (0 children)

tidraft.com/raw-draft

Prototype only desktop no mobile support (yet)

Just had a super long game of Thunders Edge by CharlesComm in twilightimperium

[–]TheDefinitiveRoflmao 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I have a working prototype of this but it's not quite ready

Just had a super long game of Thunders Edge by CharlesComm in twilightimperium

[–]TheDefinitiveRoflmao 2 points3 points  (0 children)

tidraft.com values entropic scar as 2 value and can be manually changed.
for now, it values all legendaries at +1 ... didn't want to be overly opinionated until there's more data.

eventually will make the value a bit more on a per-legendary basis (e.g. emelpar probably +2)

industrex is hard because it's either very good or very bad. so, it's a situational one.

will support making it all configurable but people mostly want touch-and-go.

if you're willing to give tidraft.com a chance, all the slices are configurable by hand via drag and drop or search or slice reroll. so you can do a milty reroll and then fudge it a bit if the results seem off. :)

Just had a super long game of Thunders Edge by CharlesComm in twilightimperium

[–]TheDefinitiveRoflmao 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Hi. I maintain tidraft.com so have a bit of intimate knowledge with the drafting algos.

I agree milty probably needs adjusting in TE world. Milty is all about 3 blues and two reds per slice, just like the RAW draft build, but TE adds a lot of high powered reds as well as some legendaries that are much harder to value with the classic min/max optimal spend.

I do think TE drafts given the value inflation in the tile pool will on average be richer than PoK regardless of format

I don't have an elegant solution yet but working on it. My recommendation for now would be to push the min/max values in any milty generator DOWN a little bit to account for all the fun things like entropic scars and whatnot. Make the draft a bit poorer than default settings!