Bay 12 Games Forum

I can empathize. Teaching here in the UK reduces the risk of in school violence, but we still have protocols in place for "critical incidents", of which we have had a few.

As for Covid - the general atmos is that we are expendable, as long as the economic wheels keep turning.

Wow. Its been 3 years since I posted here last. I better fix that, really.

Wait, don't the people have to decide what democracy is?

Yes, but people being people, they literally never agree.

Whoa. I had not posted on here more than twice in the last 12 months. Whoops!

Dear dwarves of BronzeFurnace...

Why have you suddenly started ignoring orders to move captured exotic beasts from crude wooden cages into the fancy cages in the zoo?

Yours, Overseer MonkeyHead

Soldiers being reluctant to kill the enemy has been a problem through history. A normal human being just cant kill another just like that, many not even when in danger themselves.

I suppose that in the past the lack of hesitation and will to kill was what was partly giving mounted knights, drunk Vikings or the Huns their fearsome reputation. In modern times, its one of the reasons why soldiers are drilled. The more automatic things become, the smaller the last step of aiming the weapon at the enemy and pulling the trigger becomes.

Its also why say in many drills the pop-up targets are torso-shaped and may be camouflaged: the soldier stops looking for a white or yellow target but rather something shaped like a human with clothing on it, to automatically take aim and fire.

IIRC, studies were done on ww1 or ww2 veterans (or possibly an earlier or later conflict, but a basic googling shows it to be a commonly studied phenomenon - the most high profile study seems to have been done by S.L.A Marshall) where they were asked about their shooting habits. It turned out that a massive number never shot to kill, and that they would shoot deliberately high as they did not want to kill. I think the correct military term is soldiers who "posture" - that is, who give the appearance of fighting without actually doing so.

A little rushed, Dogbite's bit, but she in now, woo.

I dropped a few of the job offers/things of interest in the listing that were there in the first post when Broo was looking, but they may still be available, should Brooklyn and Medulla wish to investigate.

Oh, and OCOS received Electronic Warfare as a Skill. It should've been there from the beginning, but I only realized it was part of the Tech-Head skillset when writing up Miss Sharid. Electronic Warfare is Hacking: Space Edition, pretty much, used with/against ship systems in combat.

Oh, cool. Could be useful, if a little bit of space joyriding is in order.

130ish BC. The world is split evenly between the 3 great Roman Houses and Egypt - all other once great tribes and nations have fallen by the acts of one of the 4 great powers. The Brutii rule over Eastern Europe and Near East. The Scipii Have North Africa, Italy and the Med islands and I, as the Julii, hold North, Central and West Europe. Egypt have the Middle East and Far East. The world has settled to a dull peace. Suddenly, without warning, The Scipii settlements all across the North African coast erupt into a Gladiator Uprising. Many thousands of elite gladiators take up arms and lay waste to their former masters. Ever the opportunist, I ship my own forces over the Med, landing in huge numbers from Tunis to the Nile. The Gladiators that survived the initial violent rebellion stand no chance against the masses of experienced and well equipped legions I land, and by 120 BC the uprising is put down in its entirety. As the dust settles, a count shows I hold an extra 20 provinces. The senate start kissing my ass, the Scipii think I have saved them from obliteration, and the plebain masses think I am a god. Not a bad decades work.