supersquirrel

Sam Seder of The Majority Report interviews Dr. Ambereen Sleemi

https://www.usaforunfpa.org/people/ambereen-sleemi-md-mph/

Both One Step From Eden and Endcycle VS are superb games heavily inspired by Mega Man Battle Network's realtime deckbuilding combat system, and while I haven't played Mega Man Battle Network so I can't compare it to the original what I can say is these games are VERY underrated.

The basic combat system in both of these games is that you have a deck of attacks that your character draws from, you can move left right up or down and trigger your abilities, the opponent can do the same and what results is a very compelling mix between thinky strategy and pure action. In One Step From Eden your deck is shuffled and you draw abilities, in Endcycle VS you presetup your abilities and can access them all and are only limited by cooldowns.

These are not turn based games, you move in realtime along with the enemy though there is an obvious rhythm to the movement tempo these are fundamentally NOT turnbased games even though they are deckbuilders!

I think these type of games deserve more attention because they bring deckbuilding into a realtime genre and it works REALLY well, and given how popular/awesome of a mechanic deckbuilding is I think there are potentially a lot of players out there who have never heard of these games who will love them as a more action packed alternative to deckbuilder roguelike games like Slay The Spire that still have that deckbuilding part built into the core of the game. The skill ceiling to these games is VERY high! They are both very replayable!

https://www.endcycle-vs.com/

EndCycle Vs is for both pc and mobile platforms.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/960690/One_Step_From_Eden/

One Step From Eden is for pc

I highly recommend both of these games!!

In May the British Army retired its 89 AS90s, handing them all over to Ukraine. The Third Assault Brigade received at least 12, replacing their Soviet-era 2S19 Msta-S. They are pleased with their new weapon.

...

“When the enemy begins pushing toward our infantry, we engage to stop them from even getting close,” Skrypa said. “I had a situation where about 30 [Russians] started gathering in a tree line, preparing to attack our guys — storm troopers. But they didn’t make it. We fired several shells, and that was it, none of them wanted to come back.”

...

Initially the UK planned to send only 30 [AS90] howitzers, which were transferred in January 2023. Yet the Ukrainian crews have proved so capable they were gifted all of them. The artillery systems, designed in the 1990s, were retired by the British Army because of their age and their lumbering lack of mobility for the modern battlefield. But they are still proving their worth in Ukraine and have become a high priority target for Russian drones designed in 2025.

New Gameplay Options

Acknowledging common feedback about AI and overall difficulty, we understand there are players who would like more forgiving gameplay, and others who expect a hardcore challenge where the player has the same survival rate as any other unit on the field.

Our team's vision definitely leans toward a easy-to-pick-up WW2 simulator, so we don't intend to make the game more arcade-like. However, we decided to accommodate arcade-like fans by reworking how difficulty settings work.

Players can now fully customize difficulty settings with tons of new sliders and buttons: modify AI accuracy, explosion radius, suppression effects, player damage, disable player auto-surrender, change stamina duration, gun overheat values, bullet gravity and more. Now you can change the gameplay to fit your preferences, or simply provide a way to play with different rules to break up repitition. You can create and save your difficulty presets, but the game will still offer default suggested presets that recreate how we intend the game to be played.

Roadmap for Easy Red 2 development

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1324780/view/4672011608170247757

The strike was conducted using a combination of drones and traditional artillery fire. Ukrainian forces first identified the enemy systems using aerial reconnaissance, then followed up with precise strikes that rendered all three guns inoperable and eliminated at least one russian transport vehicle at the scene.

This dual-method attack reflects Ukraine's growing ability to integrate modern drone intelligence with conventional artillery tactics, a critical capability in countering russian artillery dominance. The destruction of enemy guns at long range limits the invaders' ability to suppress Ukrainian positions and offers much-needed relief to troops under fire.

...

The 2A36 and 2A65 systems destroyed in this strike are no small targets. The Giatsint-B system boasts a 152 mm caliber and a maximum firing range of 28–33 kilometers. The Msta-B howitzer, also 152 mm, is a key component of russian divisional artillery. Taking out three such pieces in a single operation represents a significant tactical win.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2A36_Giatsint-B

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/152_mm_howitzer_2A65_Msta-B

These howitizers are crucial to the Russian war effort, Ukraine itself uses the 4 wheeled carriage from the 2A36 for the Bohdana towed gun because it was built to carry a serious cannon.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2P22_Bohdana

Footage like this is great news for Ukraine! These are not easy to replace, for anybody, including Russia and yet they are absolutely necessary for fullscale land wars.

Another "Weapons Of Victory" video, in general I think this is a really good explainer video about a critical piece of Ukraine's missile air defense. Also explains why the Patriot missile defense system is so critical to Ukraine in by juxtaposing it with the NASAMS system.

This clip is a good metaphor for this stage of the war. Turtle tanks are two things 1.) A distraction meant to keep the international narrative that Russia is winning with superior strength dominant for as long as possible before it utterly falls apart from the opposite reality becoming apparent. 2.) A genuine delusion/expression of desperation in Russian armor design/doctrine. Independent of the threat drones pose, the idea of fielding a massive turtle tank with a HUGE profile, low visibility/battlefield awareness, poor maneuverability and essentially no reverse gear to speak of is absurd when Ukraine has access to semi-modern western main battle tanks.

This is how you are supposed to use a tank. Imagining a semi-trained Abrams crew engaging a Russian turtle "tank" is like imagining a semi-professional adult baseball team playing a baseball game against a kids little league team. In otherwords it would be funny how badly mismatched this matchup was if it we weren't talking about war where people are dying to defend Ukraine.

A single semi-modern western main battle tank working with combined arms and UAV surveillance/FPV attack drone support can destroy a mountain of these Russian turtle "tanks". The numbers become meaningless because the matchup is so uneven, or rather one side has refused to actually evolve and is relying on propaganda/delaying distractions with wild battlefield strategies that nobody tries anymore for good reason because they are obsolete. Slapping a new coat of "but DRONES AND AI!" on top of a careless throwing away of an incomprehensible amount of human life doesn't really change what is going on here fundamentally.

This video is a great demonstration of that, the Russian turtle tank stood essentially no chance against the Ukrainian tank crew so long as the Ukrainian tank crew kept their cool and remained in constant communication with reconassaince and surveillance friendly assets in the area.

Maybe Russia will decide horses are the best way to defeat drones next? Do you think western tech media will do hype pieces about how western main battle tanks are now actually obsolete and Russia is smart for switching to only horses for its cavalry? Wired will do some breathless piece about how genius the Russians are for realizing that using electrified motorbikes and golf carts gives them an electronic signature and that *horses are far more stealthy (donkeys, Russia only actually has a couple of horses and relies mostly on tactical donkeys). Elon MUsk will market a new Tesla CYBERHORSE which is just a horse with carboard horse armor spray painted silver.

sigh

I linked to the reddit post because I couldn't figure out how to link to video/figured I'd give context.

It is shocking and embarassing how hopeless the feeble rare armored assaults have become for Russia.

#OldiesR&BSoul mix

Con Amor (With Love) is a monthly all-vinyl show that transports you back to the days of cruising Whittier Blvd with your homies and homegirls. Hosted by LA-based DJ ANTHNY GBRIEL, each episode features hidden gems and B-sides alongside a carefully curated selection of soulful tracks inspired by the iconic ‘Art Laboe Connection’ that ANTHNY enjoyed listening to every Sunday night growing up. Tune in and relax as he takes you on a cruise through the beautiful streets of Los Angeles, Califas

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