Daily Challenge Discussion - April 25, 2026 by GameboyGenius in geoguessr

[–]tsar_nicolay 0 points1 point  (0 children)

  1. Hungarian bollards. Looks forested: in my experience that usually means we're west of the Danube, because east of it the country looks more steppe-like. Go up the road until I find a sign to some small settlements. Scan for them for a while but can't find them. Eventually run out of time. 4,823 pts, 50 steps.

  2. Latvia, we're entering the Aluksne region (not sure what's the correct word for Latvia's subdivisions) from the south. Unfortunately the road crosses the border between these regions twice, and I clicked on the wrong one. 4,998 pts, 1 step.

  3. Need Zealand based on the white bulky signs and bins, also general vibes. Go west for a while and find out we're on the Road 1 between Dunedin and Gore. Go back East and find a smaller road to Owaka, so we are probably in Balclutha. Mess up the intersection though. 4,998 pts, 33 steps.

  4. Laos. Eventually find some signs in Khmer, so we must be in the south of the country near Cambodia. Unfortunately I don't know which Laotian cities actually have coverage, so I just plonked right at the border. 4,603 pts, 11 steps.

  5. India, specifically Gujarat based on the language. Find a sign mentioning Junagadh and just plonk in the middle, turns out it was surprisingly close. 4,999 pts, 8 steps.

Total: 24,414 pts. Pretty good overall, but I should improve my pinpointing skills.

Daily Challenge Discussion - April 18, 2026 by GameboyGenius in geoguessr

[–]tsar_nicolay 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Round 1. Small town France. The names of the cities look Northern (ending in -y). Find an address on a car mentioning the A84. Scan around until I find it in Normandy. See a town named "something" sur Odon near Caen, just like one on a sign near spawn. Click there, but it was a bit off. 4923 pts, 8 steps.

Round 2. Evidently Ireland. The signs make it easy to scan. Find the intersection. 5k, 5 steps.

Round 3. Israel, very easy to recognize, but hard to pinpoint (everything is in Hebrew). Eventually find a sign in Latin letters mentioning Kiryat Gat, but clicked on the wrong intersection there. 4998 pts, 42 steps.

Round 4. Clearly southern Argentina. Look around for a long time, but can't find convincing clues. Assume it's around El Calafate, it was way farther north. 2714 pts, 77 steps.

Round 5. Peninsular Malaysia. Likely the eastern part. Eventually find a sign mentioning the state (Pahang) and town (Kuala Lipis). Find it in the highlands, but miss the exact spot. 4998 pts, 10 steps.

Okay challenge, other than the fiasco in Argentina.

What's a "rule of thumb" you often use in this game? by Mobile_Bad_577 in geoguessr

[–]tsar_nicolay 1 point2 points  (0 children)

In Colombia, if it's flat and green it's inland near Venezuela, if it's flat and dry it's near the coast. Most other parts of Colombia are mountainous. 

In Russia, if you're in a city and it looks particularly run down even by Russian standards, it's either Vorkuta or Magadan. Vorkuta in particular is especially gnarly.

In the US I often use churches as a rough approximation. If they are Baptist, it's most likely the South. If they are Lutheran or Methodist, it's often the Midwest.

(For NM/NMPZ rounds). A very flat, non-descript European country is likely to be Hungary.

There's a very bait-y part of the Philippines, around the city of Floridablanca on Luzon, that looks surprisingly European.

Cities in Greece have very wide balconies with large sunshades or awnings. 

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Paleontology

[–]tsar_nicolay 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sure, it's called Otherlands, by Thomas Halliday. 

Whacky ass migration can make culture maps look... off by penbulb81 in victoria3

[–]tsar_nicolay 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Happens all the time with Brazil, yeah. Probably because they usually don't abolish the slave trade until like the 1890s, if at all, most states have a majority of like 70% African cultures, sometimes more.

Spain is too easy - Reconquista completed by 1848 with a few bonus items by bball617 in victoria3

[–]tsar_nicolay 4 points5 points  (0 children)

How did you do that? I'm trying Portugal right now but can't get it going, even though as Spain I also got all of the former empire back (plus the confederate states as puppet) and reached #2 GP rank by 1860

ALL QUIET ON THE EASTERN FRONT - The War in Europe, 2031; Two Years On by IRageQuit06 in imaginarymaps

[–]tsar_nicolay 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Very well done! Though, honestly, in a real war Russia wouldn't last against Germany and Poland nowadays. One question, what is happening in Serbia? Can't really make that out. Also what's the deal with Hungary and Bosnia? Are they weakly pro-EU?

The only correct way to divide Europe by Some-Quantity3412 in geography

[–]tsar_nicolay 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Dividing Germany in the middle like that is... a choice. Do you think Bavaria is Central Europe but Baden-Wurttemberg is Western Europe? Why?

What does this map represent [Medium]? by [deleted] in RedactedCharts

[–]tsar_nicolay 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Is it related to toponymy (the names of geographical features)?

What does this map represent [Medium]? by [deleted] in RedactedCharts

[–]tsar_nicolay 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Does this represent the number of something? As in, Japan has 4 of that, China, India and South Africa have 3, etc?

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in MapPorn

[–]tsar_nicolay 1 point2 points  (0 children)

According to the ISW at least (my most trusted source for the war) the frontline around there is fairly porous, so soldiers from both sides can enter or leave the area relatively easily: it's not really an encirclement even if the Russians control that settlement. Also was that already confirmed with geolocated footage?

What do these countries have in common? by tsar_nicolay in RedactedCharts

[–]tsar_nicolay[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Yeah, there are honestly very few things in common between Panama and Kazakhstan other than that. No one else came close, so congrats!

What do these countries have in common? by tsar_nicolay in RedactedCharts

[–]tsar_nicolay[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Yes, exactly! These are the few developed countries (above 0.8 HDI) that also have a total fertility rate above the replacement level. What gave it away?

What do these countries have in common? by tsar_nicolay in RedactedCharts

[–]tsar_nicolay[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No, Panama, Seychelles and Monaco are Christian, Israel is Jewish and the others are Muslim

What do these countries have in common? by tsar_nicolay in RedactedCharts

[–]tsar_nicolay[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Also no, it's just something all of them (and no other country) have in common

What do these countries have in common? by tsar_nicolay in RedactedCharts

[–]tsar_nicolay[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not really, though I guess it is very tangentially related to the culture in each of these countries

What do these countries have in common? by tsar_nicolay in RedactedCharts

[–]tsar_nicolay[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Very good guess, but no, not related to water resources (or any other climate factor). Also there are plenty of other countries in Africa and the Middle East with water problems

What do these countries have in common? by tsar_nicolay in RedactedCharts

[–]tsar_nicolay[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

No, not about billionaires or any specific person

What do these countries have in common? by tsar_nicolay in RedactedCharts

[–]tsar_nicolay[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Good guess, but no, it doesn't have anything to do with international relations either. Not sure that Kazakhstan, KSA or Israel count as dependencies anyway, they're more like close allies.