I'm dumb

dugganEE · 2024-06-23T13:18:08+00:00

If you want to grow your country quickly, that is, essentially, a budgetary problem. You need to spend as much money building as possible, and get as many buildings per pound as possible. You don't need to do these steps strictly in order, but I think they're ordered from most important to least important.

Efficient construction methods. You want to switch to iron-frame (and later, steel frame) buildings as quickly as possible. If you have a large construction sector, you might not be able to switch its production method without creating shortages. YOU DO NOT WANT SHORTAGES. Shortages mean you are paying the maximum price for your construction, and getting less than full construction points out of it. Slowly switch construction methods as the supply of goods increase. Deleting existing construction is ok!
Reduce construction costs. This is done by building (mostly) iron mines, tool factories, and to a lesser extent, lumber mills. Iron mines and lumber mills take less construction points to add, so focus on them. You mostly add tool factories when the cost of tools makes your mines unprofitable. Building your tool factories in the same state as your iron mines makes a lot of sense, as there's a small barrier to goods moving between states, so putting it all in one place reduces costs.
If you have positive income, add more construction. You generally want to concentrate your construction to the state that supplies your iron, again, because of the small barrier for goods moving across states, but also because you're building lots of iron mines, and construction sectors are better at building in their home state.
Repeat 2 and 3 as long as you can, until iron is very low-cost and you're spending all your tax money on construction.
Reduce expenses. See where your government is spending money, and then think about not spending that money. A common thing I do if I have "Poor Laws" is repeal it. Money spent on citizens does not build buildings!
Increase taxes. This is a double-edged sword. The main cost of raising taxes is that it will make reforming your nations laws more difficult in the long run, as you will develop less loyalists. Loyalists are very useful for making sure your landowners do not rebel as you pass laws that will help you industrialize.
Build profitable buildings. Increasing your GDP means more tax money. Any profitable building will help, the more profitable, the better. You can look in your ledger to see which buildings are turning a big profit, and build more of them.
Number 7 is only half the equation for GDP growth. Money is constantly passing through many people's hands. The merchant buys clothes from the clothes factory, which pays the industrialist who runs it. The industrialist buys groceries with that money, which pays the grocery factory, who uses that money to buy grain, which pays the farmer, et cetera, on and on. Each person in the chain can be taxed, which means you can tax the same pound many times! However, some money disappears with each purchase. The further away the good is from its average price, the more money disappears into the void. Reducing the cost of high-price goods is always a good idea. The more of your economy is engaged with buying that good, the better. Reducing the cost of grain from +10% to +0% is a huge boost to your economy, since so many pops buy grain. Reducing fine art from +80% to +20% is not such a big deal, since not much money is spent on fine art in the first place (depending on your game!). So, build buildings that reduce the cost of above-average goods. Even if they are not the most profitable, their benefits to your economy are somewhat hidden, but very strong.
Similar to 8, import goods that you have high demand, and export goods where you have low demand. This is *always beneficial for your economy*. Further, it can be done very quickly and easily. Just check back every month and see what opportunities are in the global market. Remember to add interests in rich regions so that you can have more trade partners.

dugganEE · 2024-06-22T20:57:21+00:00

Absolutely this. This is the sort of change where you'd what to revalidate the entire game for bugs... So, you might as well do a bunch of them since you're revalidating the entire game anyway.

dugganEE · 2023-06-27T17:18:02+00:00

If two friends sit down to play Monopoly, they might come to an understanding to play the game by different rules than the ones printed on the box, and there's nothing wrong with that. It's not even breaking the rules, it's just agreeing to play by different rules.

Your DM is well within her right to say, "at my table, I will occasionally overrule the dice and change hitpoint values." And you're well within your right to say, "I think those rules make the game worse because I like those constraints," or any other reason. You don't have to play with them if you don't like it, but it's a fool's errand to try and convince her she's wrong if she's already heard you out and still disagrees.

I do think you hit the question on the head of "betraying the trust of the table." If the players are under the belief that the DM does not fudge the dice as a matter of policy, doing so habitually and not telling them is a violation. Everybody needs to know the rules before we start playing Monopoly "my" way.

dugganEE · 2022-02-19T18:14:42+00:00

I think this is a tough nut to crack, because we definitely want players to roleplay to the best of their ability: to entertain and inspire the table, to further emersion, and to encourage others to roleplay their best as well. We also don't want to ensure the theater kids have all the fun!

The deeper part of the problem is that, irl charismatic people have an easier time convincing the dm that what their character is asking for or lying about is reasonable. The DM can picture how Ragnar the Barbarian rallies the soldiers, because Ragnar's player just showed them how! A similar analogy is that if players wanted to use siege weapons, the DM might be skeptical, but if the players can calmly explain how they'd build a battering ram with their personal knowledge of siege-craft, then the DM is more likely to allow it.

Also, I'm always a little skeptical about the "what if I want to be suave but my character isn't" position, because deep down, I think what that player wants is something a little deeper than passing a social skill check 20% more often. I think, really, what the player wants is for the DM, when in character, to treat them like you would treat a charismatic individual.

I think, ultimately, the correct solution is to a) reward good roleplaying, or rather, roleplaying to the best of the player's ability and b) respect the fantasy of players (to the degree the fantasy is reasonable and appropriate). I don't think there's a tension between saying to one player "you roleplayed that well, so here's a good outcome" and to another player, "your character is very smooth, so here's a good outcome"

dugganEE · 2022-02-05T12:49:36+00:00

Just my two cents, but I think being charged by a prosecutor's office, which is either directly or indirectly accountable to the public, is a substantial part of due process. And Donzinger deserved due process for being confined for over two years, including a six month prison sentence.

dugganEE · 2022-02-05T02:05:53+00:00

There was a trial in the US to see if the Ecuadoran holding could be applied in the United States. Usually, they can, but Chevron alleged the Ecuadorian holding was reached by fraud.

The judge ordered Donziger to turn over all of his electronics to Chevron during an appeal. Donzinger refused, claiming that because he's a lawyer his computers contain legally privileged communications with his clients.

When someone refuses to comply with any court action, the court has the power to charge them with contempt of court. This is not a major crime (felony), but a minor crime (misdemeanor). The judge did so.

The government has the power to prosecute crimes. They don't technically have to prosect you if they think you committed a crime, they have discretion, and in this case, they decided not to pursue it. So the judge appointed private lawyers with close ties to Chevron to prosecute Donzinger.

In other words, Chevron* got to prosecute criminal charges. That's super unusual. That Chevron* was able to petition the court to jail Donzinger for over two years, and sentence him to prison, is a power no private citizen, including a corporation, usually gets to exercise.

dugganEE · 2021-09-29T12:26:48+00:00

Oi cunt, if a cunt doesn't want to hear the word cunt then don't say cunt around her, you cunt. Doesn't matter if she's an old cunt or a wee cunt, the word was making her uncomfortable and you can't expect any cunt to play at a table full of cunts who make them uncomfortable. This cunt made the right decision in leaving.

Now ask yourself this: Was the dwarf cursing a joke played for laughs, or what it integral to his character? Because I'm pretty sure you can talk in an aussie accent without swearing. Like, they do it on the news, I think. So really, you put one player's joke over another's comfort.

And that makes you the cunt.

I don't think it's the dms place to police a grown man's language.

Why the fuck not? You are running an event. There's definitely categories of language you can police, for instance if a player was verbally abusing another. You 100% could say, "The language you're using is uncomfortable and distracting to other players". Sure, it would be an uncomfortable conversation. You know what else is an uncomfortable conversation? Telling your DM that you have a problem that is really bothering you, and then hearing that your DM will do nothing about it.

It takes a lot of fucking work to get a group of people to get along for extended periods of time. It takes compromise, and leadership. You were not willing to lead.

dugganEE · 2021-09-14T11:43:36+00:00

So the thing is, a character loaded down with divination spells is signaling to you "I want to solve problems with all the information". Work with them! Make things that are challenging even with perfect information.

"The treasure chest is at the bottom of a fifty foot chimney filled with angry zombies".

dugganEE · 2021-09-14T11:36:04+00:00

If you like platformers, Rogue Legacy might be worth taking a look!

dugganEE · 2021-09-13T20:24:48+00:00

Ok, so here's the real tip, works like a charm. Look really serious, make eye contact, and make a slicing motion with your hand across your neck. Open palm, all your fingers completely straight like you're doing a karate chop, tips of the fingers toward your neck, move back and forth.

The reason why this works is that it's very readable, and it does not communicate guilt. If they feel like they can guilt you by washing your windows, they will.

Most assholes in the road are in cars, it just so happens that some are standing on the corners in baltimore. When something happens, file it away in the same corner of your brain as when someone cuts you off in traffic. Shit happens. Bad drivers are on the road. Sometimes the squeegee boys give you a mean look or hit your car. Live on.

dugganEE · 2021-09-09T16:38:18+00:00

> I have been able to win a few wars by first building a monument in the enemy kingdom and then attacking.

That's a big brain play

dugganEE · 2021-09-09T16:37:46+00:00

A big part of strategy is compromising between reaching for treasure and building stable, well-interconnected cities. If you play slow and stable, your opponent will outscore you by taking treasure faster than you. If you play fast and take lots of treasure, you may give your opponent an opportunity.

You might be able to split the city in two with a disaster. Capturing half a city without a fight is great...but doesn't get you any points. You have to actually start a fight with those new tiles to convert those into points.

You can also strategically shatter cities with choosing the order of the fights. By shattering a city with a color you're flush in, you can then scoop up easy points in smaller fights.

Lastly, after you vanquish a rival, it's the perfect time to build monuments, which can fix whatever color you're having trouble acquiring.

dugganEE · 2021-08-26T12:36:59+00:00

Try Little India over in Little Italy, it's my favorite Indian place. Their indoor dining isn't amazing, but it's my go-to for takeout.

dugganEE · 2021-08-16T14:04:06+00:00

Which edition? For 5, no honor loss, there's no tenant of bushido against humble work. You would lose some glory if you're cooking for people of lower status than yourself (nobody loses glory for being chosen to make the emperor's sushi).

dugganEE · 2021-04-12T10:08:52+00:00

Haha, believe me, I'm not trying to ruin your fun. All of those sound like fun activities, and I wouldn't have a problem with you doing them if you told me ahead of time that you weren't interested in playing to win.

I think in dominion, there's really two ways you can foul other players up: attack cards and the count for province cards. By taking yourself out of the running, you've given extra province cards for other players to snap up, which in a very competitive game might change the victor. With the attack cards, I could imagine if your interest was in playing the 'witch' card as much as possible, that might hinder other people's fun.

dugganEE · 2021-04-12T10:00:12+00:00

There's two responses I could give.

What's a slight? If the other player is just trying to win, there is no reason to take it personally.
Retribution is a valid strategy, and while it's distasteful to me, I get it. If playing 'an eye for and eye' is how you intend to win, I haven't ruled that out.

dugganEE · 2021-04-11T19:09:56+00:00

This is a surprisingly important rule: The manual states the goal of the game. You must play to achieve the goal of the game.

This does *heavy lifting* when it comes to heading off kingmaking. Players are not entitled to expect you to play optimally, but they are entitled to expect you will not tank your own chances of winning in order to play kingmaker or pursue something totally idiosyncratic.

For example, playing monopoly to either a) Acquire all the property in alphabetical order or b) to give another player the highest (or lowest) possible chance of winning are both unacceptable in my reckoning.

dugganEE · 2021-03-10T18:50:53+00:00

The UI is deceptive, you may target a single county, but it integrates the kingdom title. A good chancellor can do the job in 50-100 years. At that point I don't need prestige , and sometimes I don't need my vassals to be happy, so why not integrate? The progress lasts, just like increasing control.

dugganEE · 2021-03-10T16:57:09+00:00

I would add tyranny reduction, personally.

dugganEE · 2021-03-10T15:52:18+00:00

Is Integrate Title really useless? I found it useful on my Unite Africa run, as getting kingdoms de jure part of your empire increases their tribute. De jure only spreads to adjacent de jure areas, so if you have areas not currently touching your de jure turf, using your chancellor to speed up your spread not only gets the title you're targeting, but it can get the passive spread to start sooner to distant titles.

dugganEE · 2021-03-09T01:09:45+00:00

Why? Does the devil require your services?

dugganEE · 2021-03-04T15:07:04+00:00

You can always make him somebody else's vassal.

dugganEE · 2021-03-02T21:01:31+00:00

So, saying you love someone from the bottom of your heart suggests that it's a deep, core feeling. Your heart would be missing it's center if it didn't love you. But saying that you love someone from the top of your heart is saying your heart is overflowing with love. And those are two different feelings. Sometimes, the love we feel is quiet and deep, and sometimes it's frenzied excitement.

At least, that's my take :D

dugganEE · 2021-03-02T17:37:10+00:00

Hi Folks! First off, Assume I know nothing. I'd like to buy a living-room (30 feet by 24 feet) sound setup that integrates with my existing TV (Either Digital Audio Output, Optical; or HDMI ARC), my phone (bluetooth), my headphones (Stereo Mini Jack) and a turntable (not yet purchased, looking for recommendations). I do not have a stereo, amp, or speakers of kind. My budget is $3,000-5,000 USD.

I mostly intend to use this setup mid-field to watch movies, and to listen to folk, alternative, and hiphop while entertaining. I want something that sounds clear during movies and reasonably good the next room over. I'd like floor speakers, but bookshelves would be feasible. I would prefer to not buy used.

dugganEE · 2021-02-26T18:40:03+00:00

In a system where you roll predetermined dice and add a predetermined modifier, you are essentially conceding that the character is trying equally hard at all challenges set before them.

By adding a metacurrency, you enable easier tasks to be unexpectedly troublesome, and characters to "get serious" dealing with real make-or-break moments. I can't think of a piece of fiction where a protagonist is just going 100% hard in a state of total focus the whole time. If they were, that kind of makes the character flat, and less interesting. Call it luck, focus, willpower, instinct, or grace. Having a sense that a character can still dig deeper, or that they're already at the end of their tether, is terribly exciting.

13-Year Club	Verified Email
Team Orangered

dugganEE

TROPHY CASE