Ruling is not easy. “Because vassals only provide a percentage of their military strength to their liege but will field all of their strength in the event they rebel (typically through forming a faction whose demands are refused), large realms… Read More »Collections: Teaching Paradox, Crusader Kings III, Part IIa: Rascally Vassals
Yes, Saruman had policies. “The political object is the goal, war is the means of reaching it, and means can never be considered in isolation from their purpose…war should never be thought of as something autonomous, but always as an… Read More »Collections: The Battle of Helm’s Deep, Part VIII: The Mind of Saruman
Motivation sometimes looks strange. “But Aragorn’s comments should be motivating, not scary: fight hard, they’re coming to murder your children. That’s something to steel the courage, not sap it; think of your families who are in this very castle, counting… Read More »Collections: The Battle of Helm’s Deep, Part VII: Hanging by a Thread
Making swords that make sense is not easy. “Saruman is facing an enemy that makes heavy use of mail armor, which cannot be meaningfully cut, but can be thrust through and he has equipped his soldiers with swords that cut… Read More »Collections: The Battle of Helm’s Deep, Part VI: Is This a Good Sword?
Even orcs have lungs. “To be clear, the plan here is to run a 200m dash, then lift a heavy ladder, then rapidly climb that ladder and then be ready to immediately fight multiple Elven swordsmen. While probably still out… Read More »Collections: The Battle of Helm’s Deep, Part V: Ladders are Chaos
This is so true. “Given his personality, he strikes me as exactly the sort of very intelligent person whose assumes that their mastery of one field (effectively science-and-engineering, along with magic-and-persuasion, in this case) makes them equally able to perform… Read More »Collections: The Battle of Helm’s Deep, Part I: Bargaining for Goods at Helm’s Gate
Power rules them all. “What is at work here is not the Congresses themselves and certainly not law (indeed, the individual Congresses could be startlingly inconsistent), but rather balance of power politics. The pressures of anarchy aren’t restrained, but instead… Read More »Collections: Teaching Paradox, Victoria II, Part II: The Ruin of War
Forces at play also in the real world. “So Burgundy is essentially in a race where it starts four feet behind and must sprint to catch up. Burgundy has to assemble power faster than France in order to remain secure.… Read More »Collections: Teaching Paradox, Europa Universalis IV, Part II: Red Queens
Even good games need to simplify. “The state has precise knowledge at all times of how much manpower they have available state-wide, how many sailors, exactly how much money and so on.These were things that pre-modern states generally did not… Read More »Collections: Teaching Paradox, Europa Universalis IV, Part I: State of Play
I love this movie.