In the Lord of the Rings fandom there’s a persistent debate whether balrogs, or Durin’s Bane specifically, have wings. The text in Fellowship is ambiguous whether what it is describing are literal wings or something else wing-like.
In the Lord of the Rings fandom there’s a persistent debate whether balrogs, or Durin’s Bane specifically, have wings. The text in Fellowship is ambiguous whether what it is describing are literal wings or something else wing-like.
Have a couple different ones:
The original wording used in 2003’s Attack of the Clones is (perhaps deliberately) ambiguous, so from that point on fans have forever debated this. On the one hand, there’s arguments that the visible cloning facilities and formations on-screen suggest literal interpretations of “unit” as “soldier”, and armies of a few million at most. On the other hand, fans have also pointed out that a galaxy-spanning conflict being fought by fewer troops than fought in World War 2 is ridiculous, and the casualty figures given would mean the entire clone army had been wiped out many times over - unless “units” can be taken to mean a much larger formation of troops.
Expanded Universe materials (both pre- and post-Disney) have given figures supporting both sides.
Context is, at that point in the game’s history, much of the game’s economy was driven by very large mining capital ships - Rorquals - systematically stripping in-universe resources at high speed.
Proponents suggest that the presence of vulnerable ships out in space doing things promoted conflict, and that this induced conflicting player groups to raid each others’ territory, creating game content. Detractors argue that Rorquals inevitably existed under the protective umbrella of existing large player groups, meaning only those groups could effectively harvest resources, creating a positive feedback loop where strong alliances got stronger and everyone else got wiped out.
(Personally, my answer is ‘both’ - but most of it has to do with other game changes besides Rorquals.)
Coal-fired steam is undoubtedly cool. you get the authentic sensations and smoke clouds that oil-firing really doesn’t provide. Many who favor it bemoan old coal-fired locomotives being converted to run on oil, sometimes also arguing the locomotives should be preserved as historically used.
On the hand, other fans point out that coal firing creates a very real fire hazard; there have been multiple brush- and forest-fires started or thought to be started by coal-fired locomotives. There’s also issues with coal becoming harder to get as use in power generation dwindles, and these fans would prefer to convert to oil rather than not run at all.
Most people just see a steam locomotive and go “Cool!”
One
The general consensus I’ve gathered is that they’re in the millions. It makes sense because they were practically everywhere on every front. They’re clones, they’re designed for that purpose.
EvE Online response as a player who was there for that era is still playing. I think the game is in a much healthier place now that most of the course correction patches have passed. Surgical Strike and Scarcity changes were needed to make the power blocs burn their stockpiles, but it happened slowly and almost killed the game (no one liked space austarity). Now with diminishing returns on capital reps, capped jump fatigue timers and filaments to allow for random travel the umbrellas can be pierced much easier and players have to adapt.
Also someone who played through that: I agree.
Nostalgia Rorquals Online have a very rose-tinted view of the time. Sure, there were more ships in space… but a lot of those “ships in space” came in the form of an entire cap fleet landing on your cruiser roam the second you tackled a Rorqual. Fatigue timers and diminishing returns were absolutely needed.
I think the current crop of issues wouldn’t be fixed by just going back; they can be traced to other factors, like Citadels encouraging players crowding together.
Tangential question: Is EvE viable or fun to play casually without subscription?
Early game, absolutely. The most important thing is to find people to play and talk with. The first few months are about getting your sea legs and trying all the things you may want to do. Skills are time gated not activity gated, and learning the rules of engagment are important (in-game, social and meat-space).
Personal note, the most useful thing I teach my new corp mates is “How not to be seen” and how to navigate your person in a way people cant (or have to put a lot of effort) into stopping you.
Thanks! The cost of Omega always put me off trying it. I’ll probably give it a go then!
I like to think that there are exactly as many clones as that one copy-paste that lists every one of them. That way it truly lists all of them.