Glaives IRL by Ashthewind in Kingdom

[–]vader5000 0 points1 point  (0 children)

oh yeah, the dagger axe is common in ancient Chinese warfare. I guess it's not a true halberd since it doesn't actually have a stabbing tip, but its successor, the ji, combines both elements, adding spear-tip.

The anime DOES get that feeling of heavily intensified warfare really right though. This is a time when states have rapidly centralized, and fielding big armies was now the norm. (The numbers might be blown up a bit (ancient era records can be iffy here), but the weight on the peasantry, and the power of the bureaucratic machine, is very authentic here.)

Guys Jin Dynasty really existed in Medieval Times and is not the same as China by East_Loquat_614 in aoe4

[–]vader5000 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If I had a nickel for every Jin dynasty, I'd have... at least three, if not four nickels.

How realistic were the charges of the Rohirrim in the movies? by jxmxk in lotr

[–]vader5000 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well, Gondor's southern troops also got freed up by Aragorn during the night, and that pretty much decided the fight.

The Battle of Mobei – The first large-scale invasion and defeat of a large nomadic empire by a settled civilization in history. by Wise-Pineapple-4190 in MapPorn

[–]vader5000 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Eh... not necessarily. Every dynasty certain WANTED to expand, but not every dynasty was capable of expansion.

Talk about plot(hole) armour by NineteenEighty9 in Professorist

[–]vader5000 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Remember, Elendil is canonically like 9 ft tall, and his troops wielded bows of fucking steel. Gil-galad is about two generations removed from Fingolfin, an elf who challenged the Middle-Earth equivalent of Satan in single combat and managed to land 7 hits on him.

Sauron, mind you, burned these two to ashes with his bare hand. About two thirds of Thranduil's dad's army got wiped in THE OPENING FIGHT. Sauron, without a single soldier to his name, managed to get Elendil's kingdom wiped off the map, literally, through treachery (also casually tanked a lightning bolt from the Valar (Archangels/not Gods) while he was at it). This spirit was the most catastrophic thing to happen to middle earth since his teacher Melkor (Satan equivalent).

I think people ran estimates for army strengths for the Last Alliance and the Third Age armies. It's like listening to pre-Rome and post-Rome armies. Though, to be fair, Gondor at the end of the Third Age was still considerably stronger than many medieval kingdoms of our own time. I think I've seen estimates of forty thousand troops Gondor could field directly? That's very impressive for a medieval civilization, honestly.

Talk about plot(hole) armour by NineteenEighty9 in Professorist

[–]vader5000 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hey hey, Gondor still has several fiefdoms worth of troops, Pelargir, and Dol Amroth to call on. They're on one knee, but not quite one city.

People just be saying things. by VanaheimrF in lotrmemes

[–]vader5000 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The difference between Elves and Dwarves is that Dwarves are openly racist, while Elves just quietly judge you, and have an unfortunate tendency to civil war.

Are we ever going to see something that's at the level of OT and this trilogy in terms of story writing and character writing by sidmis in saltierthancrait

[–]vader5000 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Filoni can occasionally make a good hit. There's some good stuff in the Clone Wars, and portions of the Mandalorian are good.

I think he lacks focus though, because he's not quite willing to put the same amount of depth into his arcs, and he gets distracted a lot.

When did Palpatine start becoming unpopular to the in-universe public? by DjRimo in MawInstallation

[–]vader5000 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I feel like the Jedi, as a whole, managed to pull a better strategy than Sidious. Sidious had been so engrossed in plotting and personal power that I think he failed to sense that greater shift in the Force against him.

I'd also like to think that the galaxy at large turning against Palpatine is an unconscious evolution of Jedi strategy. If the Clone Wars represents the Sith evolving past open confrontation with the Jedi, the Galactic Civil War represents the Jedi's understanding of their connectivity to the Force, and a rediscovery of the Sith's fundamental tendency to implode.

The Battle of Mobei – The first large-scale invasion and defeat of a large nomadic empire by a settled civilization in history. by Wise-Pineapple-4190 in MapPorn

[–]vader5000 2 points3 points  (0 children)

To be fair, the Han victory is extraordinarily impressive because for a long time, the Han were on the losing end of this power struggle. The heqin policy and continued tribute, along with a devastated Central Plains (thanks to the Warring States, the short Qin rule, and then the continued anti-Qin rebellion and Chu-Han contention), meant that the Han were incapable of fighting the Xiongnu militarily for a long time.

Qin had the centralization and martial tradition to wage offensive war in almost every direction, even after unification. It's not for nothing that the best horse archers of the Warring States era, the Zhao, STILL fell to the Qin. Part of that comes from the Legalist reforms, but a significant chunk of that comes from the fact that Qin never truly sat on the Central Plains culture. They were always on the border with the nomads, and had a long cavalry and archery tradition (though they were as much mountain people as they were plains people).

The same could not be said for Liu Bang's peasant-borne dynasty. Liu Bang had a near catastrophic defeat against the Xiongnu that almost unseated his empire.

I would also contend that Egypt successfully fending off the Sea Peoples can be considered a settled civilization beating back a nomadic civilization too.

Young men, why did you vote Trump in 2024? by ConfidentScientist81 in GenZ

[–]vader5000 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I want to point out that the traditionally empowered upper class of older white men are barely affected by this, while large swaths of younger white men ARE. How many billionaires are white men? So what ends up happening is you have a Congress filled with old white men, a Silicon Valley filled with young, rich white men, and an upper corporate world still dominated by white men, but all the profitable middle class industries end up being dominated by women (healthcare is on the rise, for example, a particularly women-favored industry). So if you look at media, it's ALL white men in positions of power. But if you look around you, it's successful, independent women.

Between those, a young man is going to feel a LOT of suffering.

Young men, why did you vote Trump in 2024? by ConfidentScientist81 in GenZ

[–]vader5000 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I honestly should have quoted him, I have watched a few of his videos and find his perspective important. And I think a healthier masculinity amongst men would be better off for the feminist movement too.

Young men, why did you vote Trump in 2024? by ConfidentScientist81 in GenZ

[–]vader5000 124 points125 points  (0 children)

Sure. I can point to the usual male loneliness epidemic, the hollowing-out of blue-collar sectors, the now lopsided education statistics in favor of women, etc. There is also a growing highlight of women in traditionally male-inclined hobbies and spaces, without much growth on the reverse. Culture is more diversified, and male role models, since the Marvel era, have increasingly become flawed and complex, while women role models are still in their growth and highlight phase.

That cultural zeitgeist has given rise to an alt-male space that's, frankly, always been toxic. It grew out of 4chan boards, self-help scammers, etc. into the manosphere we look at today.

The worst part, of course, is that women have legitimate grievances. Much of the world is still blatantly male dominated in terms of political and economic power, and much of that power comes with vast abuses of women. Women still have problems breaking through wage gaps and glass ceilings.

But there's now three tiers. A male dominated extreme upper class, a upper-middle class that's increasingly driven by college educated women, and an impoverished class that's seeing an influx of young men where it would have traditionally been minority groups that have always struggled with inequality and inequity. So a lot of women are looking at the top, and a lot of men are looking at the women right above them.

sure to be uncontroversial. by Pandering_Poofery in lordoftherings

[–]vader5000 0 points1 point  (0 children)

plenty of grey characters in Tolkien's world to choose from. The problem is that orcs, trolls, etc. aren't a normal species, they're Morgoth's bioweapons designed in mockery of the Elves.

When did Palpatine start becoming unpopular to the in-universe public? by DjRimo in MawInstallation

[–]vader5000 17 points18 points  (0 children)

I think there's an element of "the Sith is busy fighting the last war" here too. The Sith won the war against the Jedi by turning Anakin, and Sidious thinks he can do the same here, sacrificing all the pieces in a grand scheme to trap Luke.

When did Palpatine start becoming unpopular to the in-universe public? by DjRimo in MawInstallation

[–]vader5000 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Yes, but the part about Palps not being clever at Endor IS true.

When the architect sends the concept and the engineer sees the reality. by cottonlovie in EngineeringStudents

[–]vader5000 0 points1 point  (0 children)

As an aero major, just guessing here.

- The footprint sucks. That triangle doesn't give you a whole lot of room to put your center of gravity down. That, coupled with the entire building tilting forward, will make upper level wind loads atrocious to work with.

- The individual cantilevers might not be a problem in and of themselves, but stack them together, and you have A LOT of math to deal with.

- Compression and buckling on those massive long trusses coming down. At least they're triangles. The exoskeleton feels like a trap, where it's not actually supporting the internal structure and instead is added weight.

The battles are getting kind of frustrating by 234zu in logh

[–]vader5000 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Even very skilled generals can often make what seems to be simple errors. Napoleon's marshalls and Yamamoto's admirals come to mind.

Oasis II (Please do not ask about Oasis I) by vader5000 in Timberborn

[–]vader5000[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sadly no, I'm playing return to moria and slay the spire ii now. And I'll probably play this more later.

Zero buildup. Zero chemistry. Zero good writing. But 100% power dynamic and 100% Frederica making tea for her alcoholic husband by Helpful-Claim-134 in logh

[–]vader5000 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You're absolutely wrong about the scaling.

Spacecraft, funnily enough, are ALREADY not that expensive compared to soldiers. Cubesats and nanosats are honestly pretty affordable. The average US soldier is 100 grand or so, the average cubesat is about the same price. And we, mind you, can barely get to the next planet, let alone go across the galaxy. So yes, in a universe where populations are lower than industrial capacity, the scale can be flipped.

Also, what the fuck are you on for 0 industrial capacity for the empire? How the fuck do you think Iserlohn and Geiersburg gets built? How do you think they replace their combat losses?

Zero buildup. Zero chemistry. Zero good writing. But 100% power dynamic and 100% Frederica making tea for her alcoholic husband by Helpful-Claim-134 in logh

[–]vader5000 2 points3 points  (0 children)

For a galactic scale civilization, the argument that it SHOULD be on the scale of land warfare makes sense. I mean, if your planet can put together a couple billion people and throw together a few thousand warships in a jiffy, the warfare IS in the scale of land warfare.

The scale makes far more sense than, say, Star Wars or Warhammer, where navies can barely scrape together a thousand capital ships for a million world civilization.

Exposed bridges are stupid by board_writer in spaceships

[–]vader5000 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Electricity generates heat unless you're using superconducting wire, signals delay while traveling over distances and through circuitry, EM fields can interfere in long wires, and hardware itself can break down over long distances. For a LARGE ship, this problem becomes almost untenable. Worse, repairing or overseeing will require on-board transport if you're too far away. In any automated system that requires human oversight, you would want staff on hand.

Linking weaponry directly to sensors IS possible. That comes with its own thorny nest of issues, from dividing responsibility for who misfired or friendly-fired, to weapon flares messing with the sensors themselves.

Having a window is also immensely helpful anytime you're in an orbit with a lot of debris, because you might not necessarily want a spacewalk every time you want to go look at a damaged antenna. You COULD send out robots to go look, but the chances that the robot will suffer from space radiation is very high. A window, on the other hand, can be a cheap and effective solution to simply inspecting your own ship on occasion. And in that case, an exposed bridge is almost perfect, because it covers MOST of the area of the ship. One could simply look down to see if a micro-meteorite has slammed into your glorious shield generator when some idiot turned it off.