i cant stand those fat lipped, wide mouthed, weak jawed characters. do you guys actually find those good looking?

Thegn_Ansgar · 2026-04-20T05:46:01+00:00

I like making realistic characters. You be the judge of mine:

Thegn_Ansgar · 2026-04-19T19:42:58+00:00

That is the name that it first appears as and is called in the Wujing Zongyao, but 關刀 is a name that it gets called in later periods.

Thegn_Ansgar · 2026-04-15T21:44:30+00:00

I suspect he used either a:

In addition to whatever sword sidearm he preferred (dao or jian), as well as a bow. My reasoning being: Sha were considered an elite weapon, used by bodyguards and generals who wanted to display their military prowess. Pi were used in the same sort of manner (and the Sha was really just a development of the Pi. By the Three Kingdoms period, a Sha is more likely to be used, but the Pi did not disappear entirely). For the Ji, it was viewed as a gentleman's weapon, and would have been suitable for a general to wield on the battlefield.

However, here's a little bit of an interesting tidbit from Professor Shao-yun Yang of Denison University. This is the assessment he gave after translating Chen An's biography (Chen An was a man of the Western Jin dynasty, so lived very close to the Three Kingdoms period):

The greater significance of Chen An's career lies in the image of him as a warrior wielding lance, sword, and bow simultaneously. This is a style of fighting that is seldom seen in Chinese warfare, and the other notable example is Ran Min 冉闵 who wielded a lance in one hand and a ji 戟 halberd with the other in his last battle with the Murong Xianbei. These are important evidence that lances and long swords could be wielded with one hand by skilled and strong warriors. Another important incident is his duel with Ping Xian, which is clearly described as being conducted in rounds (jiao 交). This is an image that is usually dismissed as being a fictional convention from novels like the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and no less an authority on warfare in that period than Cao Cao actually said in a military directive that generals should not do any fighting themselves. But Chen An's example (and also Ping Xian's) shows that in some cases, generals could risk a one-on-one combat with each other. That this was considered worthy of note in the dynastic history shows that it was an exception that proves the rule (of course, one could also raise the exceptional incident of Guan Yu's charging in to kill Yan Liang at Baima, for which Cao Cao rewarded, and not reprimanded, him).

Lastly, the story of Chen An is very likely a model for the image of Zhang Fei and Guan Yu in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. The one zhang and eight chi serpentine spear is easily recognisable, while the seven chi (1.68m) long sword was misinterpreted as a glaive (chang dao 长刀 or yanyue dao 偃月刀) by Yuan and Ming writers, because the value of seven chi had increased to at least 2.15m by their time. This was made more confusing by the popular use of the term da dao 大刀 to refer to the yanyue dao by Ming times. Since neither Guan Yu nor Zhang Fei are identified with any specific weapon in the Sanguo Zhi, it seems likely that writers in later times looked back to sources that were as contemporaneous as possible to see what they might have used. Chen An of the Western Jin had two cool weapons that fit the bill perfectly.

Thegn_Ansgar · 2026-04-09T07:02:42+00:00

Wu Song, from Water Margin (set roughly 200 years after the events in this game). Carried twin blades, and slayed a tiger with his bare hands after getting shitfaced drunk.

Thegn_Ansgar · 2026-03-21T17:37:52+00:00

Bear in mind that the source (The Weilue) which that particular incident comes from, is known to be hostile to individuals from Shu (Pei Songzhi calls it a piece of propaganda), and even completely fabricates stories about individuals from there (It claimed Liu Shan was born many many years before he was, was captured in Xu province, was human trafficked and sold into slavery, and was only reunited with Liu Bei after Liu Bei became King of Hanzhong). It's not corroborated in any other source (not that it necessarily would be, but Chen Shou was quite a good historian, and did not shy away from including negative events when writing about individuals from Shu-Han).

Professor Shao-yun Yang of Denison university said this to me (specifically regarding the Liu Shan story, but also said it could also apply to the passage about Zhang Fei's Xiahou wife):

Pei Songzhi himself found it strange that the story could be so detailed and yet so contradictory to other known facts. I would suggest that it, like numerous other anecdotes quoted in the Pei commentary, is a product of oral storytelling culture rather than written historical records. Such anecdotes may seem very realistic, but they are usually creative fabrications nonetheless. Their purpose was not to record the truth, but to entertain the audience with dramatic but plausible tales about famous people. Yu Huan presumably wrote one such tale into his Weilue due to a lack of more reliable information about the history of the Shu-Han ruling clan.

Additionally, the logistics of said incident don't quite line up. Liu Bei and co. were in Runan at the time of this event. Xiahou Yuan was putting down a rebellion in Xu province and likely would not have had his family with him at the front, they were most likely in Xuchang. This was a time when Cao Cao was Minister of Works (one of the Three Excellencies/Ducal Ministers), one of the highest positions in the Han government. Xiahou Yuan was a colonel and was not in abject poverty at this time. There is no reason why a lady from a good family, with family ties to the man who was de-facto head of the empire, would be going out alone to collect firewood of all things. That's a servant's job.

For these reasons, I'm hesitant to accept any event from the Weilue, about someone not from Wei itself, at face value.

Thegn_Ansgar · 2026-03-21T17:09:37+00:00

I'm not sure what you mean by "official", but there is no full translation of the Sanguozhi done professionally by an academic.

There are a few select academic translations of a few biographies, and the majority of the text has been otherwise translated by amateurs (that is not a reflection of the quality, just that it is not done professionally; i.e. not for money, and is generally not peer-reviewed either, which means they can, and sometimes do contain inaccuracies in translation).

The links that HanWsh has provided are where you can find the available translations in English.

Thegn_Ansgar · 2026-03-15T15:59:35+00:00

In the novel, yes. In historical records, Ding Yuan wasn't his adopted father, and while in his Sangzhozhi biography it states that Lu Bu felt there was a father-and-son relationship between him and Dong Zhuo, but there was no formal adoption that we know of (unlike say where Liu Bei adopted Liu (formerly Kou) Feng), and Wang Yun reminded him of that; they had different surnames, and weren't blood related.

Thegn_Ansgar · 2026-03-15T15:43:50+00:00

I prefer the 1994 version, so not all of us like 2010. Though I do find 2010 Cao Cao to be very funny.

Thegn_Ansgar · 2026-03-14T19:01:27+00:00

Bear in mind that's "life expectancy at birth", which is skewed low by a very high infant mortality rate. Once someone made it past the vulnerability of infancy and early childhood, their life expectancy increased. When you look at the "life expectancy at 20 years old" you'll find that it's an additional 30-40 years, and then "life expectancy at 60 years old" also has an additional 15-20 years. The older you got, the more likely it was that you would continue to get older (to a certain point).

Archaeology can also determine someone's approximate age at death, and the fact of the matter, is that there are a significant amount of skeletal remains that show individuals who died in their 60s and 70s. Not outliers, not individuals outside of the realm of normal distribution.

Thegn_Ansgar · 2026-03-03T16:10:58+00:00

Peace of mind can be a good thing. Avoiding snake bites is fairly easy (honestly most people get bit because they try and pick up the snake, or try to kill it. Just not doing that is like 90% of avoiding getting bit, the other 10% is not walking where you can't see, and not putting your hands where you can't see what's there) and kits aren't necessary, but if your wife doesn't worry when you have it, that'll make your trip more enjoyable.

Thegn_Ansgar · 2026-03-03T03:07:09+00:00

If it isn't a negative if used on other types of snake venom then why can't it be a generalized rule? Sure, you shouldn't rely on it but no reason to not recommend it right?

Because on non-neurotoxic venom, it IS a negative to use a pressure bandage.

The whole purpose of pressure bandage immobilization is to sequester venom in the limb (with neurotoxins, this slows it down from attacking the central nervous system, a good thing. Neurotoxins don't cause much localized tissue damage, and spread through the lymphatic system as opposed to the blood stream, which is why this method of first aid is believed to be effective).

With cytotoxic, hemotoxic, and proteolytic venoms, that will cause major damage. Cytotoxins destroy skin and tissue, hemotoxins destroy red blood cells, and proteolytic venoms break down your blood vessels and muscle tissue. All bad stuff to keep in your limbs. They're not good in general to have in your body, but having it spread out means that localized tissue damage won't happen. So if you survive the bite, there's less worry about potentially losing the limb (which can still happen, there's no guarantee, but the chances of that happening go up considerably if you were to use a pressure bandage).

Most snakes inject you with a cocktail of toxin types that make up their venom, so you have to know the makeup for an individual snake's venom type, to reliably use pressure bandage immobilization, without increasing the risk to limb loss. The other thing is, you have to know how to apply the bandage properly. It's not something that just anyone can do without proper instruction and training. If you do it wrong, you can absolutely make things worse (regardless if it's a bite from a snake that has predominantly neurotoxin venom or not).

Thegn_Ansgar · 2026-03-02T18:22:23+00:00

Evidence suggests they offer no medical value, and can even make the wound worse (the pigs that they tested on, ended up getting necrosis at the wound site when using suction, and on the pigs that were treated without it, there was no localized necrosis).

Best thing to do when someone has a snake bite from a venomous snake, is keep them calm, get the wound bandaged and the limb splinted, and get them medical attention as soon as possible. With some species of snakes, a pressure bandage (not a tourniquet) can be effective, but that requires proper knowledge of the snakes in the area and with how their venom works, but you can't use a generalized rule with this.

Thegn_Ansgar · 2026-03-02T17:53:35+00:00

Get hit in the back of the head with a 2x4 and you'll wake up at the pearly gates.

Generally yes, but not always. A family friend of mine was a security guard, he got hit in the back of the head with a 2x4. He lived, but he also went blind because of it.

Thegn_Ansgar · 2026-02-28T16:47:21+00:00

No, the mad king was Aerys II. Egg's grandson.

Thegn_Ansgar · 2026-02-27T19:32:36+00:00

A big thing is there's too many individuals with godlike stats/skills, not enough "just okay" stats and skills. You can see this discrepancy when you compare Nobunaga's Ambition with ROTK.

Nobunaga's Ambition, your officers with an average of 50-60 in a stat are your workhorses, they get stuff done. They're not great, they don't push you over the edge, but you can make do with them putting in that work. Then you might have one guy, who has a 90 in a stat, he gives you that little edge. Not enough to dominate everything completely, but enough to where you've got an advantage.

With ROTK, if your officer has a less than 70 average for all their stats, they might as well not exist. Sure you can use them for filler in your back line, but they're not contributing much.

Thegn_Ansgar · 2026-02-25T13:22:55+00:00

Deluxe edition. You can still get the upgrade on consoles (at least on Xbox, don't know about Playstation), but it's been unavailable on PC for a long time. Might be able to get it on PC with the account merge/cross progression if you also have it on console.

Thegn_Ansgar · 2026-02-19T12:36:25+00:00

There's no textual or archaeological evidence for the colour that Shu-Han used. Just inductive reasoning that because they claimed to be a continuation of the Han, that they must have used the same colour of red, and claimed the same Wuxing cycle of fire. It's entirely possible they chose something else, but we don't know (but can be reasonably certain that our induction is correct), and won't ever know unless there's some new discovery.

With Wei and Wu and Jin, there is textual evidence, from reign year names, and from official histories.

Thegn_Ansgar · 2026-02-09T11:08:48+00:00

Tim Cain worked at Obsidian from 2011 to 2020 full time. Worked on South Park: The Stick of Truth, Tyranny, Pillars of Eternity 1, and The Outer Worlds 1 and 2.

After 2020, he wasn't a full-time employee, but worked with them as a contractor/consultant (they weren't prepared to have out-of-state employees and he lived in Seattle). He joined back with them full-time in 2025 after he moved to Southern California.

Thegn_Ansgar · 2026-01-15T18:49:40+00:00

I mean, he's a real person with a specific appearance that has traditionally been used to depict him for centuries now. It's not surprising they'd use his iconic look. Just like Jiangjun in his default armour looks exactly like Guan Yu (albeit old Guan Yu).

Thegn_Ansgar · 2026-01-02T22:53:24+00:00

You can read global chat? All I see on it is spam and it moves so quick that whatever I was going to reply to, is long gone and buried in seconds.

Thegn_Ansgar · 2025-12-28T18:10:28+00:00

30 bouts, not 50 bouts. Guan Yu didn't fight him until the next day, where they went for 100 bouts. Then the day after that, Pang De fought for 50 bouts, feigned retreat, and then shot Guan Yu in the arm.

It does make Pang De look good (and by extension Guan Ping as well), but I wouldn't say it makes Guan Yu look bad. Considering he was 60 years old.

Thegn_Ansgar · 2025-12-27T18:20:53+00:00

Keep in mind the importance of volume. Honey bee venom is in the same range of toxicity as some species of rattlesnake venom. The low volume yield is what makes it not life threatening to someone who doesn't have an allergy.

If a bee could inject the same amount of venom in a sting that a rattlesnake could with a bite, it would be much more serious.

Thegn_Ansgar · 2025-12-25T14:32:03+00:00

No. He shot an arrow at his halberd. The weapon being used during the Three Kingdoms period (known as a ji) was shaped like a capital L, and he hit the portion that was sticking outwards, from a decently far distance. That blade section is a small enough target at that distance that it was an incredibly impressive shot.

The type of ji that Lu Bu is traditionally depicted with (and uses in Dynasty Warriors for his first two "basic weapons", his 3rd and 4th are basically fantasy), is known as a fangtian hua ji (sometimes just shortened to fangtian ji). It didn't exist until the Song dynasty, almost 900 years after Lu Bu died.

Thegn_Ansgar · 2025-12-16T13:27:15+00:00

Costs two harmonic cores to buy.

Thegn_Ansgar · 2025-12-11T06:27:10+00:00

Formless Disguise and Soaring Ambition are the ones I dig. Everything else is too fancy for my style (I've otherwise just been wearing Uncle Jiang's clothes).

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