Serenes Forest's Teehee Thread

[Saint Rubenio]

Jesus fucking Christ, now Israeli soldiers are being filmed tossing gas grenades at ambulances. If you've seen that one video of the guy getting caught on camera and stopping himself at the last moment - there's a sequel that for some reason isn't getting as much attention. He threw it afterward. Dude just gassed an ambulance for no apparent reason.

Real proud of this species these days, I must say. We truly are the smartest animals there are.

[Armagon]

UK: all of Doctor Who on one platform (BBC iPlayer)

Everywhere else: "fuck you lmao"

[Acacia Sgt]

Home Advantage

[GuardianSing]

3 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Jesus fucking Christ, now Israeli soldiers are being filmed tossing gas grenades at ambulances. If you've seen that one video of the guy getting caught on camera and stopping himself at the last moment - there's a sequel that for some reason isn't getting as much attention. He threw it afterward. Dude just gassed an ambulance for no apparent reason.

Real proud of this species these days, I must say. We truly are the smartest animals there are.

There is a special place in hell for people who attack not only civilians, but the methods and people in which those civilians could've been healed.

[Saint Rubenio]

1 hour ago, GuardianSing said:

There is a special place in hell for people who attack not only civilians, but the methods and people in which those civilians could've been healed.

Countless atrocities are being posted online, and that's just the ones caught on camera. I look at them for a bit, become utterly horrified at the state of the world, and then I so very easily disengage and go back to minding my triffling matters.

I hate it. It's all so unfair.

[ping]

16 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

As for the other war. Well, I failed by two votes to win as World Leader on the first vote. The result of three City-States having been conquered much earlier, and having been denied the Forbidden Palace. I had the spare money and production, sooooo....

 

So that's still how people envision German diplomacy, huh?

 

16 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

...I think the Civ bug is thoroughly out of me for now.😆

"for now" being the operative words.  

[ping]

It's scary when Serenes stays on the "confirm that you're human" page for more than a minute when you just made a big-ass post.

[Acacia Sgt]

Well, are you?

[Armagon]

This is unfathomably based.

God, I love the unique history of Doctor Who.

1 hour ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Countless atrocities are being posted online, and that's just the ones caught on camera. I look at them for a bit, become utterly horrified at the state of the world, and then I so very easily disengage and go back to minding my triffling matters.

I hate it. It's all so unfair.

I can't even bring myself to watch them. It's one thing to watch war crimes play out in a movie, cause you know it's all just pretend. Seeing people get war crime'd irl is not something I want to see.

This isn't to say I ignore it of course. I'm just saying that simply reading about them is enough for me.

1 hour ago, gnip said:

So that's still how people envision German diplomacy, huh?

They say that when WW3 starts, regardless of how the factions are played out, Germany invades France because force of habit. /s

 

[Acacia Sgt]

24 minutes ago, Armagon said:

They say that when WW3 starts, regardless of how the factions are played out, Germany invades France because force of habit. /s

Belgium will just let them pass this time around.

[Codename Shrimp]

Also Serenes being slow af again

6 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Jesus fucking Christ, now Israeli soldiers are being filmed tossing gas grenades at ambulances. If you've seen that one video of the guy getting caught on camera and stopping himself at the last moment - there's a sequel that for some reason isn't getting as much attention. He threw it afterward. Dude just gassed an ambulance for no apparent reason.

Real proud of this species these days, I must say. We truly are the smartest animals there are.

smh Ruben being a Terror sympathizer anti-semite.

 

31 minutes ago, Armagon said:

I can't even bring myself to watch them. It's one thing to watch war crimes play out in a movie, cause you know it's all just pretend. Seeing people get war crime'd irl is not something I want to see.

This isn't to say I ignore it of course. I'm just saying that simply reading about them is enough for me.

and the worst thing you can't really talk about it.

Edited October 30, 2023 by Shrimpy -Limited Edition-

[Armagon]

2 minutes ago, Shrimpy -Limited Edition- said:

BG3 wins this, i think

50/50 between BG3 and TotK. 

Let's not forget TotK did win Most Anticipated Game like twice in a row. So maybe more like 51 TotK/49 BG3.

[Acacia Sgt]

There comes a point that simply hearing/reading it happened is enough for me. Not even a purely written article I'd click.

[Interdimensional Observer]

2 hours ago, gnip said:

"for now" being the operative words.  

Indeed.😅

I have been wanting to a complete Byzantium run, I’ve done several partial, yet none to completion. Patriarchate of Constantinople could use a buff (+2/3 Faith from the Palace like a better Faith-only God King? A guaranteed Great Prophet like Civ6 Arabia?), but it is flexibly fun, in theory.

One popular possibility is what I’ll nickname “The Cities of God”.:

• Triple-building Sacred Sites: Pagodas + Cathedrals + Monasteries, with the Great Mosque of Djenne built somewhere for a city with all four.
• This, however, is difficult above like Prince or King difficulty, as the AI likes Piety and both the religious buildings and Sacred Sites. 
• It also demands truckloads of Faith and perhaps delaying entering the Renaissance or at least Industrial to avoid raising the purchase cost. You'd want to go wide too, as each new city would be +6 Tourism.
• Also benefits from a map type where you can meet everyone early, since you don’t accrue Tourism until you meet someone.

Another idea is the most expansionist religion possible. Which could come in one of two double-Enhancer Belief flavors.:

Maximum Passivity

• Enhancer Beliefs- Itinerant Preachers (30% further passive religious spread) + Religious Texts (25%, 50% with Printing Press researched, faster passive religious spread). 
• And either Underground Sect (Spies exert religious pressure on the cities they occupy) or Unity of the Prophets (halves enemy Inquisitor and Great Prophet effects on your followers) as your Reformation Belief.
  • The nice thing about this is that is entirely passive, no technical need for any Missionaries or Prophets. It frees all your Faith for other things. -Although a few Missionaries are recommended to get the ball rolling (Borobudur is there for a free three). Prioritize smaller cities as size is irrelevant for the effects of religious pressure, all that matters is that a majority of the city adopts your religion.
  • I’ve tried this, it’s kinda slow. And, once the AI founds their own religions and starts spreading them, it’ll be largely undone without a good deal of Prophets or Missionaries.
  • A land-heavy map is again better, as water separates and can ruin the creation of a pressure wave.

Extreme Engaged Ecclesiastical Expansionism

• Enhancer Beliefs- Holy Order (30% cheaper Faith cost for Missionaries and Inquisitors) + Missionary Zeal (+25% Missionary conversion strength).
• Evangelism (Missionaries erode the presence pf rival religions in a city) is the perfect Reformation Belief to complete this setup. 
• Add in the Mandate of Heaven policy of Piety, and you end up with 50% cheaper super-Missionaries.

…The question is- what do you get out of conquering the spiritual world with your religion? 

• I suppose the answer depends on which Founder Belief you chose.:
  • Ceremonial Burial or Peace-Loving will equate to a lot of Happiness. Tithe (best in the long run), Initiation Rites (best for a short-term money snowball), or Church Property (better than Tithe if most cities have less than 8 Population) to a lot of Gold. World Church some Culture. 
  • Interfaith Dialogue …apparently only works if the city already has a majority religion that isn’t your own? Kinda lame and forcing you to pick on already converted non-founders or anger your rival founders. Still, it is Science, and Science is king in Civ5.
• Pilgrimage would let you get the most Faith, +2 per turn per foreign city is good when the average city can only get +3 or +5 Faith per turn with a Shrine and Temple. 
  • However, if you picked a Reformation Belief other than to the Glory of God as described above, what are you going to do with that Faith?
    • The only Great Person you’ll be able to buy after finishing Piety is Great Prophets, who simply won’t be able to complete with Great Musicians for a Cultural Victory. You’d need to complete a whole other tree to get them. -Although TBF, you don’t start buying Musicians or Scientists until very late (after Internet, or Research Labs or the International Space Station), so you’ve time to get through Aesthetics or Rationalism for whichever victory you’re after.
    • Religious buildings? Well, you’ll only have two at most per city, which assuming they’re all bought in the Classical/Medieval or Renaissance eras, that’s 160-240x2 Faith cost per city you own. Not a ton necessary.
    • Diplomacy? Well, any non-founder will be more inclined to like you if you’ve shown their peoples what must be the One True Path. But four other founders will hate you, possibly declare war on you.
    • Tourism? You do get a +15% Tourism out of Shared Religion, doubled with Aesthetics finished. But…
      • In the above maximal Belief setups, you won’t have Sacred Sites. 
      • Skipping Tradition means you won’t have Aristocracy’s Wonder production bonus, or the super tall cities necessary to churn out Wonders in time. And Wonders are very important to a Civ5 Culture Victory.
      • And, if someone still hates you for force-converting them, they might not give you the Open Borders you’d otherwise be able to get. Negating the Shared Religion bonus.
    • The World Religion resolution should be winnable early on if you’ve won over the votes of the neutrals and haven’t otherwise any animosity with them. But I don’t think that guarantees they’ll vote for you as World Leader. If they don’t, then it backfires giving anyone else your religion, since that’d be 2 votes more against you. World Religion is better for its user for a Diplo Victory if they don’t spread it beyond their borders, even if it makes the difficult vote easier to win (one which will make four others hate you more). And for a Culture Victory, all you need is a Holy City, the +50% Tourism bonus is fixed at that, all you need is to win the resolution.

...It's fun theorycrafting for Civ.😆

And I was thinking of doing a Donut Map with Byzantium. Probably using water or mountains as the donut hole, since I wouldn’t be founding many cities. Donut forces everyone to start on the outer rim along the coast. Which would be ideal for having Dromons weaken a city, and since they can’t capture them with no naval melee units around, Cataphracts would swoop in and get the kills (with the backing of a couple Archers). I could claim a capital or two that way, perhaps on King difficulty. Religion would be of less importance here. (Donut is also nice for England, Venice, Korea, and Dutch for the same reason of everyone coastal.)

I've also considered modding an Inland Sea map for an idealized terrestrial Domination attempt (maybe with Shaka), on Deity b/c it's being soooo idealized. Construct an island (coastally accessible to the mainland) large enough for three cities in the middle of the inland sea, reroll until I'm alone on said island. Place four or five different luxuries on said island (a "normal" distribution), scatter deposits totaling six units of every strategic resource. Maybe add the Fountain of Youth for faster healing and alleviating some of the warmonger Happiness issue. From my islandic base, I couldn't lose, it'd be only a matter of if I could overcome AI unit-vomit and stronk cities and actually win.

...I could also mod a Donut to fill the center with Marshes. Marshes are inferior to Desert Floodplains for Dutch Polder Pride (3 Food 1 Production 2 Gold compared to 4F1P2G3F), but how else would I get a map with a bazillion of them? Or I could fill the hole with mountains then put rivers between every single hex. Seems vaguely "realistic".

 

1 hour ago, gnip said:

It's scary when Serenes stays on the "confirm that you're human" page for more than a minute when you just made a big-ass post.

A-men.😆

Type them elsewhere then copypaste into SF my friend.😉

 

18 hours ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Found lots of beta maps here, if interested:

I'm not entirely sure if I read that article, but I know I read something earlier this year.

A frontloaded Johto, I can see why they spread it out more later. The mystery of the abundance of tall pagodas is curious. Considering their number -eight- it would've been cool if they had been a spiritual parallel to the earthiness of the Gyms.

Edited October 30, 2023 by Interdimensional Observer

[Codename Shrimp]

3 minutes ago, Armagon said:

50/50 between BG3 and TotK. 

Let's not forget TotK did win Most Anticipated Game like twice in a row. So maybe more like 51 TotK/49 BG3.

While yes, and TotK did make alot of sound on release, i think BG3 had bigger "Community staying power", so to say.

Not to mention TotK has "BotW 1.5" baggage.

[Armagon]

2 minutes ago, Shrimpy -Limited Edition- said:

While yes, and TotK did make alot of sound on release, i think BG3 had bigger "Community staying power", so to say.

Well considering there's a whole genre of people building dumb shit in TotK that still keeps going, I'm not sure if i'd say BG3 had the bigger community staying power.

It did pop the fuck off and it's seen as the main serious contender (but also tbh, most of the posts I've seen are "YOU CAN HAVE SEX WITH ANYTHING THAT HAS A PULSE" and not things about the game itself /s).

[Saint Rubenio]

Well, on a less grim note (see what I meant about disengaging?)

I did a thing.

I look forward to seeing thing in action.

10 minutes ago, Shrimpy -Limited Edition- said:

Also Serenes being slow af again

Judging by the wiped "new events" section it's probably been taken care of.

8 minutes ago, Shrimpy -Limited Edition- said:

smh Ruben being a Terror sympathizer anti-semite.

Too true, stuff like this is totally necessary for the defense of Israel. Maybe that little old family that was fleeing in their car from a tank and got bombarded out of existence was hiding a HAMAS terrorist in the exhaust pipe.

9 minutes ago, Armagon said:

50/50 between BG3 and TotK. 

Let's not forget TotK did win Most Anticipated Game like twice in a row. So maybe more like 51 TotK/49 BG3.

We all know Engage deserves it.

I do have to wonder what my GOTY would be. This year has been so crap for me when it comes to videogames... Might still be Engage, despite the second run's issues.

2 minutes ago, Armagon said:

Well considering there's a whole genre of people building dumb shit in TotK that still keeps going, I'm not sure if i'd say BG3 had the bigger community staying power.

It did pop the fuck off and it's seen as the main serious contender (but also tbh, most of the posts I've seen are "YOU CAN HAVE SEX WITH ANYTHING THAT HAS A PULSE" and not things about the game itself /s).

I mean, at least that's not something you can also do on Gmod for a 7th of the price /s

[Codename Shrimp]

3 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

I did a thing.

lmao this funny af

3 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Too true, stuff like this is totally necessary for the defense of Israel. Maybe that little old family that was fleeing in their car from a tank and got bombarded out of existence was hiding a HAMAS terrorist in the exhaust pipe.

Just taking care of terrorists in the making clearly to defend the future of their Holy Land ™️

4 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

We all know Engage deserves it.

my Goty tbh

[Saint Rubenio]

Also I'm just now discovering that the "free renown rewards" mod doesn't just mean "you get the path bonuses in versions of the game without all paths." There's a whole list of items I can't get because no castle visits on the Nintendo PC.

Well, now that I know... it's moddin' time.

18 minutes ago, Shrimpy -Limited Edition- said:

lmao this funny af

She won't kill Anankos, because Anankos belongs to Gunter. But she'll certainly help!

[Acacia Sgt]

39 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

I'm not entirely sure if I read that article, but I know I read something earlier this year.

A frontloaded Johto, I can see why they spread it out more later. The mystery of the abundance of tall pagodas is curious. Considering their number -eight- it would've been cool if they had been a spiritual parallel to the earthiness of the Gyms.

That is certainly curious, though it kinda makes sense what with Johto being the Kyoto-Osaka area. Maybe they were tied to Ho-oh. At the least, considering that proto-Johto is lacking in dungeons, the towers might've been a sort-of substitute.

[Codename Shrimp]

24 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Also I'm just now discovering that the "free renown rewards" mod doesn't just mean "you get the path bonuses in versions of the game without all paths." There's a whole list of items I can't get because no castle visits on the Nintendo PC.

tbf even on the 3ds getting most of them was hard lol

[Saint Rubenio]

10 minutes ago, Shrimpy -Limited Edition- said:

tbf even on the 3ds getting most of them was hard lol

Well, now they're free, thanks to the mod.

...Maybe I'll just hand the battle seal to Gunter lol

[Codename Shrimp]

And finished W5...another Bossless world, although levels were again a bit more tough than usual.

Gotta say, my fav. so far is world 4 - their levels are more dungeon-y but in a good way.

Also belly dancing ninjis lol

Edited October 30, 2023 by Shrimpy -Limited Edition-

[Armagon]

 

[Acacia Sgt]

Barrel!