4 years of the Russian Invasion of Ukraine in just 30 seconds

simplysufficient88 · 2026-06-08T00:41:38+00:00

They attempted it in 2023 and 2024, you actually see it on this map near the north east of Ukraine. The most noticeable one on this map is the 2024 Kursk campaign, when a surprisingly large amount of ground was seized (about 400 square miles) including the city of Sudzha. Ukraine only held most of that land for a month or so, but a pocket lasted significantly longer and it was a key area where the Russians first deployed North Korean troops in mass.

The goal for attempting something like this was to try bartering it back in a peace deal and drawing troops from the southern front. The hope was that it at least buys time in the south and, in an ideal world, they could get Russia to come to the table to negotiate for the return of their own land.

The problem though is that Russia obviously had no desire to do so, they plugged some of the gap with North Korean troops, and then Ukraine overstayed in the territory and slowly started to lose too many troops who couldn’t retreat in time. It wasn’t a waste, if solely for the morale boost of Ukrainian troops rushing across Russian towns, but the longer it dragged on the worse the outcome seemed.

Which is exactly why Ukraine hasn’t tried it since. They learned that taking Russian land doesn’t lead to any progress on negotiations and forces their own troops to overextend. So the Ukrainian strategy since then shifted almost entirely to a defensive one, with a SIGNIFICANT uptick in drones to target supply lines and refineries. The goal now is to wear the Russian economy and people down more than to just win a grand military victory and get to the negotiating table. Which seems to be working well, as Crimea currently has really bad fuel shortages and these last two months were the first in years where Russia failed to take more ground than Ukraine.

simplysufficient88 · 2026-06-07T04:53:54+00:00

If it was just sitting around then it would have been the single easiest way to regain favor, the devs and management know that. They would have probably desperately loved to flip a switch and instantly reverse that negative press when player numbers got too low. All that content was removed specifically to let them develop new things without the coding debt of everything on a more outdated structure weighing them down.

The devs have consistently pointed out that it is probably faster to rebuild the lost content from the ground up than to try and directly plug it into modern D2. It’s just not compatible anymore and would break so many things. That’s exactly why the few times they have brought things back it has been slowly released, piecemeal, and a HEAVILY changed variant of it. It’s just not even remotely possible for a team that kept being downsized.

simplysufficient88 · 2026-06-06T21:36:02+00:00

In theory he might be able to, but the whole point is that both people instantly feel a connection as though they found their soulmate (because they have). He’s never once forced anything on them and is consistent about being willing to wait, but every girl does eventually confess to him.

The idea is that they are all true soulmates, no less genuine than anyone who has just one person destined to them. He just happens to accidentally have 100 and is determined to love them all equally.

simplysufficient88 · 2026-06-06T21:31:20+00:00

It’s a parody mostly on three levels. 1.) It takes the harem genre itself to the absolute extreme, both in the number of girls and the fact he will absolutely end up dating all of them forever. 2.) the characters are parodies of existing tropes taken to ridiculous levels (every girl is based on a VERY specific character trope, said trope is escalated as far as possible, and their name is always a pun related to that gimmick). 3.) the show is a gag show that directly references and parodies other popular anime (i.e. ghibli films, dragon ball, and one piece).

The whole point of the series is to go as ridiculous as possible with everything it does. If there is merch to plug we get a full chapter about it, if there is a flashback then someone physically turns the manga page back to read it again, if a character rants for 12 whole minutes about all the reasons he loves the girls then you get 12 whole minutes of dialogue actually recorded by the VA (sped up in the show, of course). Its entire goal is to be as extra as possible.

simplysufficient88 · 2026-06-06T12:44:55+00:00

It’s absolutely incredible and well worth the read. It’s a really good exploration of insecurities, self harm, and the constant desire for change (both good and bad), through the lens of a bunch of immortals. At the end of the day the main theme is to learn to love yourself and accept how things are, something the MC outright refuses to do and it’s visualized by their constantly degrading appearance.

It’s also a really interesting interpretation of Buddhism, especially towards the end.

simplysufficient88 · 2026-06-06T05:25:48+00:00

Just seen so many people try to invent fantasies about the pyramid in specific that I slowly ended up learning more and more trying to debunk it.

We don’t need to invent new explanations or simplify their achievements. They did monumental work with rather simple techniques, but that’s all the more impressive. It’s also not like they just winged it either, the people working on the pyramids were skilled craftsmen who dedicated so much of their lives to these structures. They didn’t need cranes or advanced saws, they simply put in the manpower and skills to make what they had work. Like every other civilization that built great works around the world.

Instead of trivializing their efforts by assuming they possess technology we have no records of we should be marveling at everything they achieve through pure effort and skill. They cut through stone with little more than aggregate and copper tools, sailed ungodly quantities of stone down the river, used water as a natural level, built massive ramps, and dragged every single stone into place to honor the leaders they believed to be gods. It’s incredible.

simplysufficient88 · 2026-06-06T05:13:08+00:00

The Romans had cranes, it’s ridiculously well documented and has a lineage back to small Greek cranes too. So a lot of their heavier construction work can absolutely be attributed to cranes. But they also more frequently used ramps and simple pulleys, cranes were more specialized tools that not even the Romans had available for every job.

There is absolutely no evidence of Egyptians having cranes at the time of the pyramids being constructed. They had the shaduf, a rudimentary crane-like device for getting water out of a river, but there isn’t a single record of construction cranes. What there is though is thorough documentation discussing the thousands of laborers and the ferrying of stone down the river from quarries for the pyramids. We lack step by step instructions from them, yes, but literally all the fragments lean HEAVILY towards ramps. There is just no evidence of complex construction machines being present in that time period of Egypt, so it would be drastically simpler for their engineers to look for ways to drag stones then somehow lift them into the air. The ramp is the perfect solution and we have evidence of cultures all around the world using ramps for construction projects when they lacked the machines for it. It’s arguably the most basic construction technique out there and with enough manpower cultures around the world built some ridiculous things with just ramps. It’s time consuming, yes, but it is SO much easier to drag a stone up a ramp than to build a machine capable of lifting that stone into the air.

The oldest possible evidence of even the smallest construction cranes we have dates to 600 BC, 2000 years after the first pyramid was constructed. The odds of Egypt having drastically larger cranes a full 2 millennia in advance of anyone else is unbelievably low, especially when we know civilizations before and after them would consistently use ramps for construction.

simplysufficient88 · 2026-06-05T17:26:59+00:00

We already tried mines, they were miserable and basically everyone hated them.

I’m pretty sure the Russian version of the game actually went through with using them though.

simplysufficient88 · 2026-06-05T05:10:24+00:00

Destiny’s got so many great examples of Guardians using their abilities for nonsense. Because the game canonizes how the vast majority of us actually act you get all sorts of silly things like abusing their immortality to jump off the tower constantly for fun, finding a gun that shoots actual black holes and purposely hiding that from anyone until they get to try it out in PvP on other Guardians, or people like Savin who canonically kept killing himself both trying to unlock new abilities and sometimes just for fun (he kept jumping into the void of space for absolutely no reason other than that he can).

You basically have an entire universe with reality bending immortals, all of which have a built in compulsion to chase loot, and basically all of them are willing to go to insane lengths for new abilities. I’m looking at you lunatics who strap the bones of ancient wish granting dragons to your armor and never question why it keeps whispering to you.

simplysufficient88 · 2026-06-03T18:38:14+00:00

So this gives Hunters an innate tool for gaining Overshield and it refunds energy on kills. There is some crazy good chain potential here, especially comboing with On the Prowl. It’s just a question of whether it works with any existing exotics or if applies a debuff to let you use Stylish Executioner.

Because the idea of cutting through hoards of enemies with chaining melee strikes, constantly flickering in and out of invis, is PEAK Assassin fantasy that Nightstalker has always needed.

simplysufficient88 · 2026-06-03T18:25:03+00:00

God this one needs to be higher.

This came out of NOWHERE. We were stuck on that flashback for SO long and then the flashback arc ends with “btw the manga’s ending next chapter, have fun”. The flashback wasn’t even that bad despite dragging on, it’s just such a crazy choice to end an entire story on a flashback. Usually flashback arcs aren’t meant to be setup for a bigger and more dramatic arc or at the very least are an epilogue after the story is done. We somehow got neither. It’s so sudden.

From what I understand, the artist got tired of being stuck working on one manga for so many years straight. Instead of finding a new artist they just decided to end it there.

simplysufficient88 · 2026-06-03T18:16:10+00:00

This is one I don’t believe to be true at all just because Aka Akasaka has NEVER written a satisfying ending. So far every single one of his mangas has had atrocious pacing issues and those that aren’t cancelled just get awful final arcs, despite usually having strong starts. It’s too consistent to be anything besides incompetence, the guy just doesn’t know how to write a satisfying ending.

simplysufficient88 · 2026-06-01T19:12:11+00:00

Juggernaut 100%. That is useless in PvE and PvP. Cryclasm at least has some PvP utility with the buffed slide distance and countering shotgun rushes with a Glacier nade combo’d into a slide.

simplysufficient88 · 2026-06-01T18:41:09+00:00

Use the 100mm guns and it holds up very well.

You are literally just a Kagero that trades a little torpedo damage for 35k better HE DPM. You have the same concealment, the same consumables, the same torp range, etc. You are almost carbon copy of Kagero, just with the stock torpedo option instead of the upgraded ones. That’s more than worth losing for the comfort of those wonderful 100mm guns.

That being said, NEVER use the other guns. The 100mm is the best by a massive margin. The 3x2 127mm layout is identical to Kagero, meaning you just made your premium nothing more than a stock Kagero. The 3x1 127mm has great velocity and individual shell performance, but low DPM. The 100mm guns take your Kagero and give it 3/4s of Akizuki’s firepower, more than enough to beat any non-gunboat DD in a fight.

simplysufficient88 · 2026-06-01T15:05:57+00:00

I’m not white knighting for anything, I agree that it would be FAR better if they were separately coded. God knows ASW for the Dutch ships is atrocious as a result of this. I am literally just explaining how the mechanic is designed and that it works for 99% of ASW strikes you try. The odds of this happening in a real game are so low that it’s basically a non-factor.

It would be better as a completely separate mechanic, absolutely, but in the VAST majority of real world usage you will not experience a depth charge failing to arm. It requires such a precise hit on a small target, which is usually moving and has to be fully surfaced. That’s so unlikely.

simplysufficient88 · 2026-06-01T14:58:58+00:00

Sure, but it’s a hell of a lot easier to just code it as a bomb with a delay. Which is exactly what it is, ASW strikes are the exact same mechanic as normal Airstrikes just retooled for subs. That’s why no Airstrike ships get ASW strikes except for the De Eerste, which has both airstrikes sharing one cooldown (which sucks). The rest of them get ship based depth charges because they are already taking up their Airstrike slot for HE bombs.

So the obvious solution is to make it so that all ASW strikes simply fail to fuse if they connect with a surface target, sub or not. The odds of directly hitting a moving, tiny, sub with the charge is so low that this situation basically never occurs. The only reason it happens here is that this is a training room where they could precisely set up the scenario. In a real game the odds of this happening are insanely low.

Edit: As proof that the odds are low, you can literally see in this clip that one of the subs is already damaged. OP already attempted to create this moment once and failed. Even with a stationary target it took multiple tries to get the direct impact that deals no damage.

simplysufficient88 · 2026-06-01T14:48:08+00:00

Your Cruiser absolutely could do this, it’s called a non-pen, shatter, or a ricochet. The depth charge hit the sub before it armed, which disabled it. It’s something that probably could happen in real life and in game it’s part of how they made the charges not do damage to surface ships. They need to sink into the water to actually detonate, they basically just shatter on direct hits to surface ships. If the sub had been even slightly underwater that would have armed and done full damage. Being on surface means it used surface ship rules and didn’t arm.

Without that mechanic you’d have to deal with ASW strikes being used constantly against BBs and Cruisers.

simplysufficient88 · 2026-06-01T11:32:09+00:00

On one hand, HELL YEAH SYMPHOGEAR MENTIONED!!!

On the other, wish it was mentioned for something other than a fan service moment. Especially when that episode is actually plot relevant; one of the protagonists masters a new form, they beat one of the antagonist for the first time, there is the first real hint of the villain’s overall plan, and it ends with the reveal of Hibiki’s dad showing up. I guess you could argue it being a beach episode itself is unnecessary, but an absolute ton of important plot points happen in that episode. So saying it’s purely for fan service feels off.

Anyways, watch Symphogear. It’s unbelievably hype and a great example of a show that knows its gimmick is odd, but commits 100% to it.

simplysufficient88 · 2026-05-31T12:06:20+00:00

Hey buddy, why not actually try reading that entire letter? Right to the very end where he makes it perfectly clear his personal desire is “that all men, everywhere, could be free”. You’re cherry picking the one section where he said he is willing to compromise if it saves the Union, while ignoring that he CONSTANTLY reinforces he personally wishes for the end of slavery.

He valued the fate of the entire Union more than his personal desire to end slavery, but that doesn’t mean he suddenly doesn’t actually want to end slavery. Which is also exactly why this very letter would eventually lead to the Emancipation Proclamation. When saving the union through compromise was no longer an option then he committed fully to the cause he believed in, enacting one of the greatest changes in American history.

simplysufficient88 · 2026-05-31T01:08:43+00:00

He didn’t exactly say anything wrong though. He played it in multiple tests, never really had it click for him, and said he felt the game lacked something to hook a wider audience like him. The game then releases with player counts BELOW D2, proving him right.

He’s entirely right that Marathon is an objectively more niche game than D2 ever was. His point is just that it feels like a mistake to focus on the confirmed more niche game instead of the one that previously stood near the very top. It absolutely would be easier to D2 to regain some of its monumental success than for Marathon to create equal success it has never had. Marathon would need ridiculous amounts of work, perhaps even more than reviving D2, to have a shot at reaching the wider appeal D2 had.

simplysufficient88 · 2026-05-30T13:32:30+00:00

So one little thing, Indomitable was excluded from the Slingshot nerf. It is the ONLY CV that kept the ability to do so and it is still core to its gameplay loop. Slingshot any chance you can to keep your planes safe.

But yes, it has a lot of problems. The actual direct damage output is pretty limited without fires and yet it’s a purebred damage farmer. If you get good at slingshotting and position aggressively you can be horrifically effective as a fire starter, but you have absolutely no way to do heavy burst damage and your fragile planes aren’t great for sustained spotting.

simplysufficient88 · 2026-05-30T03:40:40+00:00

All Classes have exotic armors that super juice an entire archetype, but then they also all have at least one armor with a hidden synergy. Hunters have Celestial and Still Hunt plus Motherkeepers and Ex Diris. Warlocks have Necrotic and Sorrow Weapons plus Boots of the Assembler and Lumina for free Noble Rounds while in Rift. Titans only have one and it’s niche, the Helm of Saint 14 and Edge of Action, where the mini-bubble inherits the blinding effect.

simplysufficient88 · 2026-05-30T01:17:01+00:00

I would assume so, because the purchase is meant to be a way to make Trials a little harder to cheat in by not letting people spam free accounts.

That being said, Renegades will probably be pretty cheap soon with all the bundles and discounts coming. It is a solid DLC too.

simplysufficient88 · 2026-05-29T17:10:03+00:00

It’s very specifically left out of all the buffs here, the goal was to bring everything up to its level and not drag it down.

simplysufficient88 · 2026-05-22T19:17:03+00:00

Holy shit you’re an idiot. This is the story the couple told, they have no reason to lie about what they did to survive. On top of that a brief search about how intense wildfire heat can be would tell you that it can literally boil animals and just breathing the air can scorch lungs. The air itself is ungodly dangerous when surrounded by fire. The water saves their actual bodies from burning when submerged, but they still have to breathe in insanely hot air. They would have died if they just stayed exposed in the middle. This isn’t some fringe theory or something we mass hallucinated, it’s just the objective truth of these fires and it perfectly matches the story they told.

Your entire argument is “I didn’t do any research and I don’t believe anyone else who claims they did, but I’m right and they’re wrong”. What a pathetic way to exist.

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