You may be interested to know that there is an open source engine port of HoMM2 that released within the past year I think. I know many people are big on HoMM3 and lots of nodding work has been done on that game to keep it fresh and playable, but 2 was my entry to the franchise, so the FHeroes2 team deserves my endless thanks and admiration.
Thanks for sharing this. It's easy to think of all of Russia as complicit in the war, so it's sobering to see that, despite the governments efforts, there are still those who want peace. Here's hoping some day they'll be able to voice their opinions without reprisal.
Really? Fascinating. I know of Impressions from their work in the city building genre. I hesitate to even guess how many hours I've put into Caesar 3 over the years. Seems they branched out far more than I anticipated.
Every few months I get the itch to dive into an MMO. I drift around among many of the free to play offerings depending on what sort of world I want to inhabit. As is tradition for me this time of year, I've been rewatching the LOTR trilogy, and thus I've decided to hop back into Lord of the Rings Online.
I haven't played in years, but dusted off my level 10 champion and set about getting reacquainted with things. Thus far I'm having a really good time. There's something quaintly nostalgic about this kind of tab target MMO. The whole thing is very cozy to me. Maybe that's just my love of the setting and the opening areas being consciously pastoral, but I find it very easy to just zone out and churn through content in this game.
I don't know how long I'll stick with it, as MMOs tend to demand more investment than I'm willing to give single games, but as of right now I'm having a wonderful time.
Thanks for the read. I have fond memories of playing the Sid Meier civil war games that I think came out a few years after this series. However, from your description and my memories, the games seem to share a lot of DNA. I also recall the Ultimate General Civil War game from a few years back. The mention of unit customization down to what equipment they field and who their commanders are reminds me of similar features in that game. Thanks for the write up! I love reading about this era of PC gaming.
I mean, in a roundabout sort of way, the military does do that. If you're active duty, you earn an okay salary (compared to other jobs whose entry requirement is a passing GED), but a significant portion of your paycheck is composed of nontaxable benefit payments. For example, BAH or Basic Allowance for Housing. As a junior NCO in a low cost of living state, I was getting nearly a thousand dollars a month specifically to offset housing costs. That afforded me the opportunity to rent a very nice apartment I would not have been able to afford on my salary alone. If I had chosen to rent a cheaper place, or cohabitate with someone, I would have been able to pocket the difference. I also received something like $400 ish for food in the form of the Basic Allowance for Subsistence stipend. Not to mention free healthcare through Tricare. Additionally, most veterans qualify for the VA Home Loan program, in which the government guarantees a portion of your mortgage, which can mean better rates from lenders vs a civilian.
So, while the military isn't necessarily out here building homes for folks (that being said, I've stayed in on base housing before, and most places certainly qualify as modest single family homes), they do provide tools that vets can use to make that a reality.
Does the incentives balance out against the cons of military service? For me, they did. For others, maybe not.
I recall Becky Chambers' "A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet" emphasizing the found family theme pretty heavily over the course of the story, especially non-traditional relationships. In fact, the ship crew's relationships with one another forms the crux of the drama. Even though there are big "Important" events happening in the background, the narrative is focused on what those events mean for the characters on the ship, rather than what they mean for the galaxy as a whole.
Right? Like, if I want to be as charitable as I'm capable of being, I could understand that sentiment if you are talking about your own official forums on your website. Like, sure, if you own the content and the forum, you have the power to determine what is and isn't acceptable on your platforms. It's a stupid determination, mind you, but it's within your power. However the impression I gather from the article is that they're referring to the Steam forums, which is absolutely asinine to me.
Out of curiosity, what service do you use for this? I'm looking to make a purchase I'd rather not have tied to my bank account. I was going to go pick up a visa prepaid.
I disagree with your assessment that far right and populist descriptors are opposites. Admittedly, there's a degree of subjectivity in definitions here, but my understanding is that conventional scholarship has coalesced around a definition of Populism that is agnostic of the left/right spectrum.
For example, this journal article from 2012 defines it as "a thin-centered ideology that considers society to be ultimately separated into two homogeneous and antagonistic groups, the 'pure people' versus the 'corrupt elite', and which argues that politics should be an expression of the general will of the people".
If you care to read a little more, the authors break down their definition into it's constituent pieces and provide context, but the important piece is that you can see how populism can come from both the left and the right.
As examples, we can look at, say, the Occupy Wall Street movement from a while back. Very much spawned from left leaning ideology, but it's defining feature was casting the "corrupt elite" (in this case, the fabulously wealthy) against the general people (i.e. the 99%). On the other side of the coin we can look at Donald Trump's MAGA movement. The image he wants to cultivate is that of an outsider, someone not tainted by the corruption of the Washington elite. That resonates with a sunset of the population.
Both of these movements have radically different goals and politics, but the framework of those arguments follows the same general template.
I apologize for the US-centric examples, but that's what I know. As consolation, the article I linked to is specifically a comparative study of European vs Latin American populism.
It is possible, though improbable given the divisive political climate. To do so would be throwing away one of the primary advantages of holding a majority of the House. It would require a contingent of Republicans to essentially turn their backs on their party, likely forgoing any sort of financial aid for their reelection campaigns, and becoming persona non grata among their peers. If any group were to do so, they'd almost assuredly be frozen out of any committees they were on, and any legislation they proposed would be DOA. In short, it would almost certainly be political suicide.
So yes, it is possible, but I don't think it very likely.
You may be interested to know that there is an open source engine port of HoMM2 that released within the past year I think. I know many people are big on HoMM3 and lots of nodding work has been done on that game to keep it fresh and playable, but 2 was my entry to the franchise, so the FHeroes2 team deserves my endless thanks and admiration.