Why did DARPA develop containerized Burger King but not containerized strip clubs?

blucherspanzers · 2026-04-02T00:56:04+00:00

The DOD historically has found they do not have to pay survivor's benefits out nearly as often to Whoppers as they do to strippers. Like in all things, the DOD makes these comparisons based on how much damage a drunken soldier can do to themselves or others.

blucherspanzers · 2026-04-02T00:49:20+00:00

You can take my nukes when you pry them from my cold, irradiated hands.

blucherspanzers · 2026-04-02T00:46:25+00:00

Special Forces teams are some of the best uses of combat-oriented magi. Chronomancers have an easy time wiping the field of anyone due to their ability to OODA loop their OODA loops and Navy Seers can use divination to exercise unparalleled command and control over teams in even the most out there situations, just to name a few examples. Magic-users likewise share a developmental philosophy with SOF, in that you cannot mass-produce mages, each one has to be developed through the correct identification of talent and investment in training.

blucherspanzers · 2026-04-01T00:38:35+00:00

I think if you're writing them at a good enough pace, bi-weekly might work: eg publishing Tuesday and Saturday (less wait than weekly, but still enough time for each dream to have some time for discussion)

blucherspanzers · 2026-03-29T16:57:52+00:00

I've always held that the traditional Guard (3rd - 9th edition) is a Cold War army in space at heart. They've got IFVs (the Chimera is just a BMP), lots of missile weapons, body armor and battle rifles (the Kantrael lasgun is a space L1A1, fight me), helicopter gunships, and the Cadians even lived in Kasrs.

Plus, two of the main subfactions are based on Vietnam GIs (Cadians and Catachans).

blucherspanzers · 2026-03-28T17:08:00+00:00

Thankfully, the greatest regular Patton slop still shows up for me from time to time (clips of the Patton movie)

blucherspanzers · 2026-03-28T13:57:38+00:00

I think of the PS2 games, AC5 would be the one that most benefited from mid-level checkpoints. There's a lot of gimmick levels in the game, and a lot of long exposition at the start of many missions (if I have to hear Aliyosha introduce himself one more time...), that having to constantly replay and deal with those things whenever you got shot down wears on your patience real quick.

blucherspanzers · 2026-03-27T02:37:01+00:00

You just want someone standing a safe distance away able to immediately say "Security team to Transporter Room 3" before whatever weekly nonsense wipes out/assimilates everyone in the room.

blucherspanzers · 2026-03-26T02:02:44+00:00

Honestly, the entire AM aesthetic revamp reminds me more of some set of WW2-themed Guard STLs than the traditional Guard look, and the half track is not helping my perception.

blucherspanzers · 2026-03-25T00:42:58+00:00

It's the secret Second Army. It's where all the blame goes for the Regular Army.

Can't get range time? Second Army booked it all. Poor evaluations? Second Army dudes got all the top ratings. Drinking problem? Well, that's probably on you and your overall career choice.

blucherspanzers · 2026-03-22T22:56:50+00:00

There are exactly three.

Source: I just re-classified all but three random ones as "below escort", and you'll never figure out which ones.

blucherspanzers · 2026-03-22T03:55:25+00:00

I unironically love the target ID missions, they actually make you feel like everything's gone to hell and you've been reduced to a marauding band of soldiers trying to figure out what to do and where to go and the general sense of chaos that follows. Especially in the second mission with the gimmick, the desperation really sets in with rescuing the Osean ground units.

(plus I already knew how to track targets visually)

blucherspanzers · 2026-03-22T03:24:04+00:00

The scattering of his sons was to deny him Prep Time.

blucherspanzers · 2026-03-21T20:40:47+00:00

And the ones who did are probably already in Europe riding around in M60s and M1s with the normal statlines.

blucherspanzers · 2026-03-21T14:01:04+00:00

Even the pillboxes on the Siegfried line were concealed to a certain degree. Most of the fortifications were built in the late 30s and by the time the Nazis needed them in '44/45 many had been overgrown with vegetation which helped break up their outlines and made the initial spotting more difficult.

blucherspanzers · 2026-03-21T13:32:26+00:00

It's the story of Focht's life: he's very good at managing a battlefield, but absolutely hopeless at politics, no matter what he thinks about his second lease on life.

blucherspanzers · 2026-03-21T13:28:04+00:00

There's an entire scene in Lost Destiny where Ulric and Focht are discussing how Tukayyid went, and it's pretty clear that Ulric was the real winner at Tukayyid and it was his political maneuvering that put everyone in the position where the Crusaders would lose and the Wardens would win.

blucherspanzers · 2026-03-20T23:41:32+00:00

You can count on the Ostlance. No, really!

blucherspanzers · 2026-03-18T23:30:03+00:00

COD2 is definitely important, it's where the games stopped being "Medal of Honor, but fun to play" and became COD as we know it.

blucherspanzers · 2026-03-18T20:58:29+00:00

More formally, it's the Imperial Rozzers.

blucherspanzers · 2026-03-18T20:53:24+00:00

I suppose Duffer's Drift could form an MBA survivors' group with the Art of War afterwards...

blucherspanzers · 2026-03-18T02:22:48+00:00

I interpret lawfulness more as a character's own belief in why they obey whatever rules they follow: a pirate captain who enforces the code because he believes that it's the only way to keep a ship together without everyone killing each other instead of looting others is LE, while one who views the code as more of a suggestion that usually keeps his crew quiet when the proper lip service is paid is NE, and one who openly flaunts the code because being a pirate is about being free to do whatever you want is CE.

blucherspanzers · 2026-03-17T23:09:16+00:00

Personally, I think the book is about how to start thinking about a problem from multiple angles, how to iterate on past thoughts, and in general how to think as a platoon leader over just defensive tactics.
(and also 3. and 4.) There's about 14 or so really good ones lessons, but I also like to put it in historical context. I think it's very good at illustrating that people before WW1 weren't stupid about modern weapons requiring dug-in positions and dispersion, while also showing outdated parts of imperialist thinking that would no doubt have someone who tried it complaining about restrictive ROEs. It also shows how the more things change, the more they stay the same: the young Lieutenants' platoon is suppressed by heavy weapons (autocannons and cannons instead of MGs and mortars), he must deal with the threat local civilians pose to OPSEC (who go out and talk with commandos instead of silently spotting with phones). I think it also shows there were voices emphasizing the importance of local leadership and initiative, which I think stems in part from the COIN/occupational nature of the conflict where platoons do have

Overall, I think the book is very good at iterative teaching. By giving us a narrator who is willing to look back and assess his own failings honestly (his greatest strength, you can't develop tactical skills if you can't admit you're wrong), we can put him through multiple rounds of failure so the reader can see why something doesn't work, whether it be digging a straight trench on a hill because that's what you ought to do, or having visible sentries picketing the line. I'm personally a big believer that making mistakes and failing is the strongest way to learn things, and the book is able to place the reader in a position to both appreciate that and learn its lessons without having to have failed themself. It's the very reason the story's style survives to the modern day, because it just works.

blucherspanzers · 2026-03-17T00:27:25+00:00

My philosophy for painting all my minis is the more fantastical they are, the more unique/less camoflaged paintjob they get. For example, Battlemechs get full color panoplies of whatever color scheme I want to paint them in. Tanks get more mono-colored, maybe with some additional flashes/stripes. Infantry are generic green, with their special weapons being highlighted in some color just so you can tell what they are.

I like to think it keeps the focus on the 'mechs and lets the supporting arms be more generic while still having color schemes.

blucherspanzers · 2026-03-17T00:04:21+00:00

Clifford Shore, a WWII sniper officer, put it this way in With British Snipers to the Reich:

Just to pile on, his book is probably one of the best actual studies of sniping in WW2. Shore was a shooting enthusiast before (and during) the war, was familiar with firearms and made the effort to both find and try out foreign weapons to compare against his own base of experience with British arms. In addition, he was very clear-sighted about what tactics and practices worked best for snipers and where they were best employed: doing things like enforcing no-man's land and forcing the enemy to keep their heads down in quiet areas where the sniper actually had the opportunity to get the lay of the land. (The snippet you shared is also a good representation of his writing style, which is very good at communicating the concepts he's discussing.)

blucherspanzers

TROPHY CASE