Paradox Interactive Forums

Paradox Interactive Forums - Blogs http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/blog.php This is a discussion forum for Europa Universalis, Crusader Kings, Hearts of Iron, Victoria, Sengoku and more en Wed, 16 May 2012 21:58:41 GMT vBulletin 60 http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/images/misc/rss.jpg Paradox Interactive Forums - Blogs http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/blog.php My Saturday night http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/entry.php?1452-My-Saturday-night Sat, 12 May 2012 22:36:26 GMT So happened earlier tonight.

I and two of friends were watching hockey, playing NHL 12, drinking beer and enjoying Sauna and generally having a good time while the fourth one, once again in a condition of near passing out from beer, liquor and weed. Of course the liquor wasn't his but one of my other friends. So this dude who drank my friends liquor didn't want to come to the sauna (now that I think of it, thank god he didn't) but decided to sleep on the sofa. Well me and the other two went to sauna couple of times and everything seemed fine until we were about to come out of the sauna for the final time. One of my friends wanted to go out first only to find this fourth guy, who previously slept on the sofa, opening the shower room door making a 180 degree turn while throwing up all over the wall, shower curtain, floor and the door, the corridor behind him leading to WC also got it's share of vomit, so did the WC door from inside, the WC seat itself, the wall behind the seat the wall next to the seat, my scale weight on the floor, the mat on the floor. And that's not all. When we finally got out from the shower room we found out the shower room door had also taken hit, the hallway walls were casualties of this vomit terrorist. Also the floor had bits and pieces here and there, what might have previously been some kind of food. Casualties also include parts of living room floor, mat, wall and the sofa. My TV and Xbox 360 had been spared from this disaster.

So you can guess what my reaction was. I kept my head cool and instead of shouting out loud and starting to cut peoples fingers, I used my Michael Corleone authority voice and made this vomit terrorist clean his mess. Of course I had to order this couple of times before the dude managed to rise up from the sofa and start cleaning. This of course took a long time because he insisted that he wanted to go on smoke first which I pretty much denied by threatening to throw him out with his stuff right away. This cleaning episode took about 20 minutes with many breaks where he thought that he had cleaned all. I had to point out places for him to clean. After another 20 minutes I decided that if I wanted the mess cleaned I better do it myself. Thank full one of my friends offered to help cleaning the shower room.

Well of course if I had known that this vomit terrorist would blow himself out in my place I would have bought every kind of cleaning equipment there is and a lot WC paper and kitchen paper. Well of course I only had two rolls of WC paper left. Now all my towels are waiting for a total clean up in the washing machine. And a lot of new kitchen towels were created. So after about an hour I had managed to clean the mess. Of course the smell still remains here and I think I need to do another cleaning sweep in the morning. Also I made it very clear to everyone in the apartment that now we had now WC paper or any paper at all. But this is not all. Lets say 30 minutes later this vomit terrorist rose up from the sofa and mumbled something while walking towards the WC. Soon we hear the door locking, belt hitting the floor and few minutes later I hear my name called with the following question "Is there any toilet paper?". In this point all I could do was to laugh my ass off.

This is of course the last time he comes to my place.

So how was your Saturday night? ]]> Emperor Ike http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/entry.php?1452-My-Saturday-night Werewolf Game Statistics http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/entry.php?1451-Werewolf-Game-Statistics Mon, 07 May 2012 13:22:40 GMT

Gigau's History in the WereWolf games

Werewolf Lite CCXXX: A Clash of Kings
As Martin the n00b Archer
Hunted on night five

Werewolf CXXV ~ A revolting Revolution
As Edmond Dantès
Won

Werewolf Lite CCXXXI - OMGZ Its Werewolf Lite!
As a girl who plays with gasoline and a match
Lynched on day 5, after having the Voice of the JL lynched and the Seer hunted
In the aftermath of the game :

Originally Posted by EUROO7

Gigau deserved a better pack. I hope to be in a pack with you someday, my friend.

Originally Posted by Suirantes

So that you may teach him the arts of the Dark side?

Originally Posted by EUROO7

The force is already strong in him. One need only give it direction.

]]> gigau http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/entry.php?1451-Werewolf-Game-Statistics Wiki! http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/entry.php?1429-Wiki! Thu, 22 Mar 2012 21:53:39 GMT Okay, so Báltikjá now has a wiki (http://baltikja.wikia.com/wiki/B%C3%A1ltikj%C3%A1%20Wiki?wiki-welcome=1)! You should check it out and help me build a great community! Okay, so Báltikjá now has a wiki! You should check it out and help me build a great community! ]]> Mr. Capiatlist http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/entry.php?1429-Wiki! Okay, not that any one cares... http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/entry.php?1426-Okay-not-that-any-one-cares... Sun, 11 Mar 2012 17:29:02 GMT So recently I have been questing to fix up Bastions so it would be quite so shabby. I feel like my writing isn't going down, but people's interest is so I am trying to think of a few things to keep my interest in the series while a million niggling doubts bite at my heals.

First is going to be something that some older posts asked for but I kept putting off: the story of Ælle, the son of King Eadbert that was banished to make room for King Gunwald and thus drive a stake between the Saxon nobles and increasingly Prussian monarchy. This will be told through several updates over the next chapter or two. So, it should be something very different. Hope that it can refresh everything as well as cast the spot light on a fan-favorite.

Second, thanks to Svip, I will be slowly and steadily translating CK2 into Anglo-Prussian (based off the so-far un-revealed 2012 language reforms). This will be a pretty long task and I don't plan for it to be done anytime soon. Nor do I expect people to think of it as anything more than just a novelty mod. However; I am enjoying it so far and the vocabulary for Anglo-Prussian is exploding, which is a good thing. I hope some people will enjoy it.

cóŝ ]]> Mr. Capiatlist http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/entry.php?1426-Okay-not-that-any-one-cares... Been a while http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/entry.php?1422-Been-a-while Tue, 06 Mar 2012 22:46:35 GMT Been a while I posted here, didn't really found the need to keep it up to date, but I'll give it another try.

Anyway, been working on armageddon scenarion v0.4c for some time, however its release will not come any time soon, there's still plenty work to be done.

Good news is, I wrote a new tool to help me with making changes to the map easier, the new tool allso allows me to add strategic resources and should be much more flexible than the previous one, the bad thing is, it allso makes it easier to copy mistakes and therefore causes the game not to work.

Allso had to code a new tool from scratch to aid me in the task of extending the brigade/division naming database.

Now its only a matter of gathering tons of potential ship names for all the nations, ranging from important people to that nation's (or subnation's) history to provinces and cities/towns... ]]> MrCrush http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/entry.php?1422-Been-a-while Falling Rocks! http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/entry.php?1408-Falling-Rocks! Sun, 12 Feb 2012 22:48:29 GMT Image: http://img856.imageshack.us/img856/7092/dscn2050a.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/856/dscn2050a.jpg/) Mouraria, 9th of February

Mouraria, 9th of February ]]> th3freakie http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/entry.php?1408-Falling-Rocks! Rebuilding the Roman Empire under Morsolini. http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/entry.php?1404-Rebuilding-the-Roman-Empire-under-Morsolini. Mon, 30 Jan 2012 22:13:03 GMT Romans donate Africa to the Allies. Only a handful volunteers give their life in order for High ranking Roman Officials and Citizens to evacuate Tunis safely. Poland is divided by Germany and Soviet Union. Soviet Union attacks Finland, thus Winter War begins. For everybody's great surprise the Swedish Crown decides to intervene to help their former subjects against Soviet threat, perhaps hoping that out of gratitude the Finns would submit to the Swedes once again. Unlucky for the Swedes Germany decides to honour the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact even further and invades Sweden trough Denmark and from the sea. Swedes are quickly defeated by the veterans of the Invasion of Poland, they submit themselves to Germany and Finns give up Viipuri and Sortaval to Soviet Union.

In the Balkans Roman Empire attacks Yugoslavia quickly advancing to Belgrade and cutting the head of the Yugoslavian government. Yugoslavia becomes a Roman province. Immediately after the Roman Legions have reorganized near the Greek border war is declared on Greece. The Greece armies even though numerous are no match for the battle hardened Legions of Rome. In few weeks the Romans are in Athens and Greece is under Roman control once again. Allied invasion of Crete is averted for now. In the north Germany invades Norway trough their new Swedish lands and after few battles the Norwegian collaborates overthrow the government and submit to Germany. To show good will towards the Scandinavian people Germany establish the State of Scandinavia that consists of Sweden, Norway and Denmark led by Anders Quisling.

By the Spring of 1940 the Axis troops have reorganized on the borders of France and Belgium. Germany invades Belgium making quick progress against the Belgians who didn't think Germany would attack them. In the South the Roman Legions launch an attack against the French armies there, the first attack is called of due to the mountains being to slippery from all the ice that refuses to melt. The next phase of the war has been started and France waits for its doom. ]]> Emperor Ike http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/entry.php?1404-Rebuilding-the-Roman-Empire-under-Morsolini. Just turned 19. http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/entry.php?1397-Just-turned-19. Sat, 28 Jan 2012 17:47:48 GMT F yeah! Image: http://openclipart.org/image/250px/svg_to_png/22404/nicubunu_Emoticons_Cool_face.png F yeah!

]]> Vaximillian http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/entry.php?1397-Just-turned-19. We, the People -- A USA Interactive FTM AAR http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/entry.php?1388-We-the-People-A-USA-Interactive-FTM-AAR Tue, 10 Jan 2012 18:07:56 GMT Still no Ministers...must I lead this glorious nation into battle alone?! Still no Ministers...must I lead this glorious nation into battle alone?! ]]> Saithis http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/entry.php?1388-We-the-People-A-USA-Interactive-FTM-AAR Best birthday gift ever! http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/entry.php?1384-Best-birthday-gift-ever! Thu, 05 Jan 2012 19:34:42 GMT Today I received probably the best birthday present that a man can ever receive from his father. He gave me an cool and antique looking pocket watch, which has the Finnish Lion in the top cover in it giving it a very regal look. All I need now is a top hat, cane, monocle and a noble title and I could be the King of Finland.

And today is my 22nd birthday. Yay!

]]> Emperor Ike http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/entry.php?1384-Best-birthday-gift-ever! <![CDATA[Le Chateau de Loches, one of Foulque Nerra's castles - Part 2]]> http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/entry.php?1381-Le-Chateau-de-Loches-one-of-Foulque-Nerra-s-castles-Part-2 Tue, 03 Jan 2012 00:13:56 GMT

Les Chateaux de la Loire :

Loches, one of Foulque Nerra's Castles - Part 2

Following of Part1...

In march of 1429, Charles VII had met a young woman from Donremy (Lorraine) who urges him to kick the Anglois out of France. She starts out by lifting the siege of Orleans in may. In june of the same year, Jeanne d'Arc comes to Loches, where the Court is installed. She asks him to go to Reims to be crowned King of France, which he will do, turning the tides of the Hundred Years' War.

Charles VII was married with Marie d'Anjou, daughter of the Duke of Anjou and titulary King of Naples. But he also had an official royal mistress Agnes Sorel, to whom he gave the Castle of Loches. A small and fun fact about Agnes Sorel : one of her daughter with Charles VII married a Jacques de Brézé. Their son Louis married Diane de Poitiers, royal mistress of frnech king Henri II. From this filiation, one can trace down to the Houses of France, Spain, Austria, Belgium, Portugal, Yougoslavia, Bulgaria, Luxemburg, Roumania, Savoy, Parma, Two-Sicilies, Württemberg, Calabria, Aosta, two imperial families (France and Brazil), and several branches of the families of Liechtenstein, Greece and Tuscany.
Agnes Sorel is interred in the Church of Saint Ours, which is located between Foulques Nerra's keep and Charles VII's Royal House.

After Charles VII's death, Louis XI will abandon Loches for the Castle of Amboise he prefers. He will transform the keep into a state prison.
Later, Anne de Bretagne, wife to two kings of France, Charles VIII and his cousin Louis XII, in a french move to permanently annex the Duchy of Brittany (i might come back on this episode later with the Castle of Langeais), spent much time in the Royal House of the Castle of Loches, far from the restless life of the Court.
She had an oratory built :

Along with the laces, you might recognize the Ermine of the coat of arms of Bretagne.

Among the prisonners at the Castle of Loches, we can find Cardinal Balue, almoner of Louis XI. He became Premier of the Grand Conseil, but was later compromised in the capture of Louis XI by Duke of Burgundy Charles the Bold, at Peronne. He was later freed after the intervention of the Pope. He became Legate and moved to Rome.
Also, Lodovico Sforza, Duke of Milan, handed over to Louis XII de France by his own Swiss mercenaries and who died in Loches in 1508.
Louis XVI later imprisonned the Englishmen captured during the french intervention during the American Revolution.

If you ever come in Tourraine for a trip back in time, the Castle of Loches should definitely on your list of places to visit.

See you some day for a new castle along the Loire... ]]> gigau http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/entry.php?1381-Le-Chateau-de-Loches-one-of-Foulque-Nerra-s-castles-Part-2 <![CDATA[Le Chateau de Loches, one of Foulque Nerra's castles - Part 1]]> http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/entry.php?1380-Le-Chateau-de-Loches-one-of-Foulque-Nerra-s-castles-Part-1 Mon, 02 Jan 2012 23:13:51 GMT

.

As this is a first episode of what might be a series, let me first make a small introduction : my parents, a few years ago, moved to a small town in close proximity of Tours. For those who don't know (and that might be most of you), Tours is a town on the river Loire, to the south-west of Paris. Being at the border between the Valois and the Platagenet demesnes at the end of the Middle Ages, it is rich with castles and history.

Les Chateaux de la Loire :

Loches, one of Foulque Nerra's Castles - Part 1

The Castle that overlooks Loches is a good example of this link between the Chateaux de la Loire and the history of France.

At the end of the Xth century, the castle was made out of wood, as it was common back then. It was then that Foulques III d'Anjou, also known as Foulques Nerra, conquered Loches in his struggle against his ennemy the Count of Blois. In 1013, he had a huge stone keep :

Along with the rest of his demesne, the castle passed along to the Platagenet kings of England. Henri II and Richard I the Lionheart will increase the fortifications, as Philippe II of France laid siege several times. It was finally captured in 1205, and was added to the Valois demesne, as a powerful stronghold.

We jump two centuries and the new master of the Castle of Loches is Charles VII de Valois, dauphin of France. He doesn't like the keep, as it isn't comfortable. So he has the Royal House built :

]]> gigau http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/entry.php?1380-Le-Chateau-de-Loches-one-of-Foulque-Nerra-s-castles-Part-1 My Roller Coaster Year http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/entry.php?1361-My-Roller-Coaster-Year Fri, 09 Dec 2011 03:17:41 GMT You know, I have to say the 2011 has been a year I will always remember. The title says it all. It has had some all time highs for me and also some all time lows.

Let me start with the Highs.

In January I basically won the Paradox lottery and was invited to go to the yearly convention the company runs every year. It was a trip of a lifetime(not to mention all expenses paid, they know how to treat a guest) and I enjoyed every second of it. It was the first time I had ever been to NYC and I got to meet many of the Developers for the PC games I have been playing for over the last 10 years. Thank you Fred, Johan, and everyone else at Paradox for picking me for this trip. You guys keep making the games and I will keep buying them. My AAR from the trip.

I coached my last season of tennis at the school I work at. I had been doing it since 2005. Though I will miss the spirit of competition and the kids I coached, I am happy to retire and just focus my efforts in the classroom.

In June, I struck the lottery again in the trip dept. and was asked by my sister-in-law to tag along on a trip to the wilderness in Canada. Now being a geography major, I always wanted to travel the world, so there was no way I was going to pass this up. This was also my first trip out of the USA. We went to Lake Brownell in Saskatchewan and fished in the wilderness the for one week. There was no electricity and lots of mosquitoes, but the trip was worth it and quite an experience. The catch(forgive the pun for the fishing trip) for the free trip was to watch my nephew, it was an easy job. I caught tons of fish and ate them as well.

My wife and I have now been married for 5 years and it seems like every year our love for each other grows larger. My wife decided to do a career change and to join the Army. She spent a year to train to get in shape and lost nearly a 100 lbs in the process. She quit her job early in the year to spend more time with our son and to have more time to work out for her future job. Having her around all the time was great for all of us. More on my wife later in the blog.
Our Happy Family

When the fall came around and it was time to go back to work, I was given a new assignment to teach something new. After five years of teaching Advance placement Human Geography, I was happy for a switch to teaching general world history and sociology. Too many politics in teaching AP and I was glad to be rid of it. You can read some of my previous blogs if you are interested in the woes of teaching AP in my state.
My son in my classroom

Sports this year were very enjoyable. Mainly because I was never injured. I played baseball on two teams this year. One was against many former pro and college kids. We made it to the finals but fell short. Tennis this year playing in the USTA league was the same result, 2nd place. I am going to play anything I get a chance to because who knows how many more years I have until my body starts breaking down.

Random vacations - Some other places I visited this year was South Fla a few times to see college buddies and a family trip to the Atlanta area. The family vacation to Stone Mountain and the Braves game was the highlight.
My wife and son at Turner Field

My son has been a bright spot for me this year. He played in his first soccer league at age 3 and was one of the best on his team. He also started school and loves to go to it. This is actually a school and not a day care. The day cares he was in the previous two years were nightmares so we were worried when he started school that he might not do well there two. Well this is Catholic School and let me tell you, those teachers are damn good at what they do if my son loves going there everyday.

Now the lows. Now let me tell you I realize some people have it way worse than I do by a mile. So when I say lows, these are mostly just sad points of the year. Nothing to get mega emo about.

Man, let me start with work. The bunch of kids I had this past year in my AP class made me see the light from teaching the subject. Many could care less about being in the classroom and gave minimum effort all through the year. It just puzzles me that they choose this elective. They elect to be there and then they make me look bad when they don't pass the test at the end of the year. Also had a first, a parent got on to me about being too hard on her son. She told me just let him sleep in class. Wow lady, let your son sleep and hold me accountable when he flunks the test at the end of the year. Maybe I need to find another career or just teach at a higher level where kids have to pay to be in the classroom. Don't get me started on the bureaucratic storm they are shoving on teachers in my state.

Well, for the first four months of the year. I was sick, like sick for weeks at a time. I kept on getting strep throat. Now I had not had this illness since I was in grade school and was puzzled why it was hitting me so hard at this age. So the doctors told me it would be a good idea to remove my tonsils. Evidently strep was seeded in my tonsils and this was the only way for me to get better. So the first day of my summer vacation, they removed them. The first 3 days were not bad, but then the pain kicked in for a good week after that. My taste buds to this day are still kinda screwed up from the surgery. On the good side, I have not been sick since the surgery.

My wife with her career change is setting up some big changes for 2012. One is relocating from our home in Tallahassee to who knows where. That being said, we are going to take a major hit because the housing market is freaking awful. I will kiss and estimated 20k down the drain to be rid of this house. I do not want to worry about a rental half way across the country or world.

My last grandparent pasted away in Sept. My grandfather passed away the year before. With my final two grandparents I can remember many memories growing up with them and spending every summer with them. I miss you both so much.

Last, my wife with her career. Before I hit the lows for this, I want to say I am proud of her for starting her career, taking on a challenging job and looking out for us with all the cool benefits from her job. The govt. really takes care of their military family's and it has relieved some financial stress. I am not the least unhappy with her joining, but I am lonely, tired, and stressed more than ever in my life. The first week my wife went off to basic training, the worst luck hit hard. My son got super sick for about a week. No big deal usually but we were in between insurance at the time and really did not have anyone else to help watch him. My wife was away from Late Aug - early Nov. During that time I was only able to talk to her on the phone for a total of 30min. The loneliness kicked in hard and has not left. My wife was able to spend Veterans Day weekend with us and had to go report to her job training. She will get 2 weeks off to be with us for Christmas. Being tired is something I am always now because I am basically a single parent until my wife finishes her job training. My son keeps me busy with all the energy he has. I can't imagine if I had two kids to worry about. Stress with not having my spouse around has been at an all time high. Being mr. mom is a hard job. After a day of lectures, grading papers, and dealing with teenage hormones takes a ton out of you everyday. Then you have to come home to clean, cook, and take care of a 3 year old. I swear I will have gray hairs soon I know military spouses will not always be around b/c the job is that demanding, but I am ready for her AIT to be done and to be around my wife once again
My wife and son meet the for the first time in months after basic

This might be corny to say, but one thing that has kept my spirits high during the low points is actually Paradox. Coming on these forums is always a blast because Paradox peeps are a unique breed of mature people that are into the same things I enjoy. It is indeed a welcoming community. Also I was lucky to be part of the beta for Sengoku. It was my first beta and I hope to try Salem out as my next beta. The hour or so daily that I might get to play games after my son goes to sleep is defiantly one of my high points of the day. For the last three months I have been hot and heavy into DW. I want to play this as much as possible until CK2 and Vicky 2 AHD come out.
A Manchurian game I have been playing in EU3 DW

Anyway to my Paradox peeps, family, and friends. Happy Holidays and a Happy New year.

G-Mike ]]> GuileMike http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/entry.php?1361-My-Roller-Coaster-Year Sunset from Praça do Comércio - 2 pictures from the same spot http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/entry.php?1355-Sunset-from-Praça-do-Comércio-2-pictures-from-the-same-spot Thu, 01 Dec 2011 18:30:58 GMT Looking out: Image: http://img38.imageshack.us/img38/6379/20111124174702.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/38/20111124174702.jpg/) Looking in: Image: http://img683.imageshack.us/img683/9963/20111124174831.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/683/20111124174831.jpg/)

Looking out:

Looking in:

]]> th3freakie http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/entry.php?1355-Sunset-from-Praça-do-Comércio-2-pictures-from-the-same-spot Hoi3 music training for babies II (evaluation 1 yr later) http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/entry.php?1340-Hoi3-music-training-for-babies-II-(evaluation-1-yr-later) Fri, 28 Oct 2011 12:55:38 GMT Yeah I know I have fallen into the lurking habit as of late - but since last year my family has grown twice and I have simply not much time to spare for the forums. However, I have discovered that the little lady that got exposed to the Hoi3 music (see below) now develops some... interesting preferences for military equipment, so to speak. Most astonishingly she also already knows how to steer a helicopter :cool: But see for yourselves, dear readers. Image: http://i1130.photobucket.com/albums/m536/xhr/IMAG0444.jpg Yeah I know I have fallen into the lurking habit as of late - but since last year my family has grown twice and I have simply not much time to spare for the forums. However, I have discovered that the little lady that got exposed to the Hoi3 music (see below) now develops some... interesting preferences for military equipment, so to speak.
Most astonishingly she also already knows how to steer a helicopter :cool:

But see for yourselves, dear readers.

]]> XHR http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/entry.php?1340-Hoi3-music-training-for-babies-II-(evaluation-1-yr-later)