Simple solution would just be to either ignore it because unless ur like mentally inept why would u care so much, or if dave ever gets around he can add a *Favorites mode* and allow u to put ur favorites on there
Use adblock and block element if you wanna just ban strategies from your own screen. you can cmd (or ctrl on windows) to disable one or more strategies before a starting a game for everyone if you're the host
I kind of agree with you, but not on the wording. Polls, if done well, can give good insight. Fox, for example, does a really good job with polling for the US but also for polls they do in some European countries as well. What also gives insight into the situation is Republican-leaning pollsters like Rasmussen giving really bad numbers for Trump - which means that even in their biased models, the government is not doing what people want.
Where I disagree with you is on the cause of the shift, especially among independents. I do not think they want more of the situation in Minneapolis. Also, there are 13% dissatisfied Republicans as well, if we are to trust this poll. I do not think most Americans care about some political justice for Biden-era people or whatever you meant by that - let's be real, most politicians and government workers behave the same way whoever is in power. Trump seems to not be delivering on standard of living (cost of living, as you Americans call it) - and that's his biggest issue. Or maybe the Epstein situation is bigger, I don't know.
I do not think 2028 is the year for Republicans; I think it is already lost at the presidential level. You said yourself, two years of deadlock within the government for any big changes, which the voters expected, especially on the economy - he will have a hard time delivering.
What I believe is that smart Republicans will not even attempt 2028. JD Vance will probably fall on that sword and end his political career in high positions.
2032 will be the big year for Republicans, though. I think that under the current political landscape, Democrats have already lost the 2032 elections, with Texas and California becoming almost equal in electoral college math after 2030 census. It will probably be a more mainstream old type, not MAGA, Republican, which will probably give space to Democrats for their Trump of sort which will revitalize their base and expand it for 2030s and the new electoral college reality. At the end of the day, average lower to upper middle class people do not really have any power - whoever is governing.
Do you think Trump might attempt to modify the Constitution and run for 3rd term?
Very interesting times are ahead of us I believe. All this we theorize about 2028 and even the midterms might as well be completely wrong if AI bubble pops for example. Also, if AI keeps progressing at the current pace, we might as well have completely new level and technology in political campaigning in 2028 elections etc. There is a saying in my country, "God forbid you live in interesting times" - but the choice seems to be out of our hands.
P.S A lot of different topics within one post, I know... My brain just wonders sometimes...
If I were to rank the issues I'd agree the economy (cost of living or standard of living, whatever you want to call it) is #1 by far. I agree with you that all lower & middle class are struggling badly. And it's getting worse all the time. It doesn't seem to matter whether it's Republicans or Democrats in power... they are all the same out-of-touch elites who want to continue the status quo. The system benefits them greatly at our expense, so of course they want to keep it going.
The economy was already in really bad condition before Trump came back to office. I know I just said it doesn't matter if Republicans or Democrats are in power, but look at any economic measure and its hard to deny that Biden fucked things up a lot worse than usual.
How? For one thing, he flooded the country with somewhere around 15-20 million illegal immigrants thanks to his open borders policy. It doesn't take a PhD in Economics to figure out that quickly adding millions of people, most of whom are low-skilled, is going to cause a huge drain on resources. There's the obvious food, clothing, and healthcare. What about housing? 15 million people have to live somewhere. The government has been telling us for years that we have a "housing shortage", so why on earth would you import millions of people with no houses for them?
For another thing, Biden & his people were spending money at an unbelievable scale, from the Ukraine war (which is awful, but we should never have got involved in), to all the other countries we fund around the world, to woke/DEI shit, to fraud, and of course to pay for all the illegals who came in. Trillions and trillions of dollars. Again, it doesn't take a PhD in Economics to know that when you print tons of money, it causes inflation.
I'll admit a little of that started under Trump at the end of his first term, with all the Covid stimulus he started. That may not have been the best idea. But regardless, Biden came in and amped it up 10x, so most of the blame is on him for sure.
This is the main cause of the dreary economic conditions we've been dealing with for the last 5 years.
^^ This is not sustainable.
Now, Trump is a rare exception to the status quo. He is making a lot of good changes that will benefit us normal people. I think he genuinely cares about the normal lower/middle class American citizen. He is the only one fighting for us right now. Even though he has tons of money he doesn't really fit in the elite circles. He's one of us at heart. That's why they hate him so much.
That said, it takes time. It's only been 1 year and he's done a lot during that time, but we're only starting to feel the benefits of it now. I'd say we have probably another year to go before things really get better.
Some prices have already come down. Some a lot, some a little. Some haven't come down at all yet. It's complicated. But one that's very important is the cost of gas.... gas drives up (or down) the prices of everything else.
Gas prices right now are the lowest they've been since Trump was president last time around. You can see from the chart we still haven't bottomed out. I expect these prices to come down a lot more in the next year.
One problem he hasn't solved yet is housing... mortgage rates are too high, and rents are too high. Getting the illegals out of the country will help bring rents down -- it's simple supply & demand. Mortgage rates are fucked up because our Federal Reserve chairman (Jerome Powell) is terrible and won't lift a finger about it. He hates Trump, and because Trump wants the rates to be lowered, Powell refuses to do it. He doesn't care how many normal Americans he hurts with his stupid policies. All he cares about is going against Trump.
It's not just mortgage rates. Credit card rates are tied to the Fed rate as well. So it's a huge impact on normal everyday people.
Thank God Powell's term is up in May, and Trump has already selected a replacement. I'm quite sure Trump's pick will lower the rates -- or else Trump wouldn't have picked him! We just have to suffer a little longer until the new guy arrives.
So for now we're in kind of a "wait and see" mode with the economy. When the new Fed chair comes in May rates should come down, which will help a lot of people. We should feel the effects of that in the 2nd half of 2026.
As regards political justice, as you call it... the problem is fundamentally that we have a 2-tiered justice system. Elites and Democrats can do anything they want; while Republicans and normal people are persecuted. I hear a lot of people angry about this, which makes me rank it the #2 priority.
On January 6th, 2021, hundreds of un-armed MAGA protesters peacefully walked through our Capitol after being LET IN by Capitol Police who OPENED THE DOORS FOR THEM. Yes there were a few violent people who broke some windows. There were also a whole bunch of undercover FBI agents and informants (more than 200 if I remember correctly) mixed in the crowd. Nobody has ever explained what they were doing there. However it's pretty clear the ringleaders who incited the whole thing were government plants. Just google Ray Epps. Anyway, the point is 99.9% of the people who walked through the Capitol that day were peaceful and totally non violent. The result? They were all rounded up by Biden's FBI and thrown in jail for 2+ years. Would have been longer if it weren't for Trump coming back and pardoning them.
CONTRAST THAT with what's going on in Minneapolis. Leftist rioters, ANTIFA, whatever they are, can loot, assault, burn, do whatever they want -- nothing happens. Even if we do arrest some of them, some leftist judge turns around and releases them immediately. No consequences.
It's exactly what happened back in 2020 with the George Floyd riots. If you're a leftist, you can burn down cities and nobody will touch you.
See the difference?
There are many other examples as well.
Speaking on behalf of "normal" Americans, we're fed up with this shit.
It's not just about Biden, it's all this shit coming from the left that has gone totally ignored, uninvestigated, unpunished. The Epstein thing is just one part of it, it's not even the main issue. The main issue... when will any of our "elites" face some justice?
Will Trump try to run for a 3rd term? No. Not a chance. He'll joke about it probably just to piss off people on the left. I would too in his position, it's fucking hilarious. But no, it's going to be JD Vance running to replace him in 2028.
You're right, we are living in interesting times. And that's not necessarily a good thing. Who knows what will happen in the next few years. (Personally I'm waiting for pandemic 2.0 -- it worked so well against Trump the first time, will they do it again to beat Vance? I worry about that.)
You touched on AI so I just have to say... I think AI is a huge mistake. It has certain uses for sure. But the way we are rushing to put AI into everything is so irresponsible and stupid. From an investment standpoint it is definitely a bubble. These big companies (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, etc) are dumping billions and billions of dollars for, let's be honest, a half shitty product. They've scraped the entire internet, stolen everyone's content, put it in this black box that nobody fully understands how it works, only to get outputs that are wrong half the time. Or to have a self-driving car run over and kill an innocent person. In the next war we'll probably have AI-powered drones killing people. Is this really what we want? I really don't like where this is going, and nobody seems to be doing anything to stop it. Not even Trump.
Interesting - I saw this before, will take a look later.
I know about this, it was a hacky solution I put in to fix another problem where people couldn't choose "none" at all. Now everyone has it at least once, some people twice, but at least they can choose it.
Until I get around to fixing the underlying issue.....
This is the dumbest idea ever. If you really want that, just make units available at a certain turn, and mess with economy with event units. Do not include this to the game.
Maybe only allow those with permanent premium to do so, but I'd like a way to visually unlist strategies from your list when you start a game. I like how you can set a default strategy, but there's some I do not wish to use, and it becomes an eye sore.
Interesting - I saw this before, will take a look later.
I know about this, it was a hacky solution I put in to fix another problem where people couldn't choose "none" at all. Now everyone has it at least once, some people twice, but at least they can choose it.
Until I get around to fixing the underlying issue.....
I am bringing up an old topic, but I would strongly urge the developer(s) (Hi Dave....lol) to eliminate the ability to make walls in the water with land units. Only ships should be able to make sea walls, not militia, Inf, tanks and certain special units (in other maps). If we do this across all maps/scenarios, then we can eliminate unbreakable sea walls with land units in maps that don't have bombers (e.g., various Ancient games, etc.).
Dave, I know you are quite busy, but this will make a big difference both common sense-wise and to stop cheaters using this tactic in specialty maps. It makes no sense that a soldier treading water, wearing a life preserver can stop ships or planes.
Thanks!
I agree. Will take me a while to get around to it. I don't know when. But I agree it's silly what we let those guys in life preservers get away with
vibe code it so that walls with 5000 units on each side wont break to 1 militia
In the game, Puma has a reputation for being way too bad at convincing top players to join his clan. Instead of just relying on skill or teamwork, he flashes rewards and incentives that make his clan look irresistible. Trash players see the chance for hard benefits and end up leaving their original teams, even if they were already doing well. It feels less like friendly competition and more like he's buying loyalty, which takes away from the spirit of earning success through effort and teamwork. That's why it seems like he's "stealing" players, not by force, but by making offers that are hard to refuse.
What makes it even crazier is that once these noobs join his clan, the balance of the game changes. Other clans prosper because their worst players are suddenly gone, and Puma's clan becomes stacked with trash. It creates a cycle where losing brings less rewards, and less rewards bring even more players. While it might be dumb strategy, it also feels fair to those who try to build their clans through trust, practice, and loyalty instead of money or prizes. In the end, it turns the game into a competition of who can offer less, not who can play better.
In ATWAR, Puma's clan has built a reputation for being bad in a very specific, very consistent way. It's not just that they lose fights — lots of clans lose fights. It's that Puma's clan never seems to learn from them. Bad calls get repeated, poor positioning keeps happening, and somehow every loss is blamed on anything except decision-making.
What really makes it stand out is the confidence gap. Puma talks and acts like the clan is a serious contender, but in practice they routinely pick fights they can't win and then act shocked when it goes south. Instead of adapting or tightening coordination, the response is usually excuses, cope, or silence until the next reset. It feels less like a competitive clan and more like a social experiment to see how long you can ignore obvious problems.
The result is a weird imbalance where other clans improve through practice and experience, while Puma's clan stays stuck in the same loop. Strong players either avoid joining or leave once they realize nothing is changing. Meanwhile, weaker clans use Puma's territory as a learning opportunity. At this point, fighting them isn't about strategy — it's about timing the inevitable collapse.
In the end, Puma's clan doesn't lose because of bad luck or unfair mechanics. They lose because effort, coordination, and self-awareness matter in ATWAR, and pretending otherwise doesn't make it true.
In the game, Puma has a reputation for being way too bad at convincing top players to join his clan. Instead of just relying on skill or teamwork, he flashes rewards and incentives that make his clan look irresistible. Trash players see the chance for hard benefits and end up leaving their original teams, even if they were already doing well. It feels less like friendly competition and more like he's buying loyalty, which takes away from the spirit of earning success through effort and teamwork. That's why it seems like he's "stealing" players, not by force, but by making offers that are hard to refuse.
What makes it even crazier is that once these noobs join his clan, the balance of the game changes. Other clans prosper because their worst players are suddenly gone, and Puma's clan becomes stacked with trash. It creates a cycle where losing brings less rewards, and less rewards bring even more players. While it might be dumb strategy, it also feels fair to those who try to build their clans through trust, practice, and loyalty instead of money or prizes. In the end, it turns the game into a competition of who can offer less, not who can play better.
I assume all "polls" are lies until proven otherwise.
Also, I would keep in mind there's a difference between approval ratings and voter intentions.
I think there's a significant segment of the population (myself included) who are frustrated by the lack of arrests, lack of justice/accountability for Biden-era people and Democrats in general, and seeming backtracking on mass deportations. We want Trump to go harder, not cave in. If I were to answer an approval ratings question today I might say "slightly DISapprove". But if I were voting tomorrow I'd vote for Trump and any candidates he endorses 100%. I think Trump could have a lot of supporters currently in the "disapprove" camp who would still vote for him regardless.
That said, I'm already assuming Republicans will lose the midterms in 2026. That's been the pattern in recent memory (i.e. the President's party losing in the midterms). Plus there's the fact that the Republican party itself is spineless and incompetent. (The Democrats are equally as incompetent, but at least they try harder.)
Trump is not on the ballot in 2026, so a lot of his supporters presumably won't bother to show up, even if they would otherwise vote for candidates he endorses. It's hard to get excited going to vote for somebody like Mike Johnson (who's a big loser). Meanwhile the Dems are all riled up and angry, as usual, so they'll show up in greater numbers. Gotta defeat those "nazis" and all, or whatever they think we are.
So basically Trump has only 1 year left if he's going to get anything else done. After the midterms, assuming the Democrats take over one or both Houses of Congress, we'll spend the rest of '27-28 with impeachments, fake investigations, and overall deadlock. But, hopefully, after 2 shitty deadlocked years those independents will be fed up with the Democrats again, enough to put JD Vance over the top in 2028.
I kind of agree with you, but not on the wording. Polls, if done well, can give good insight. Fox, for example, does a really good job with polling for the US but also for polls they do in some European countries as well. What also gives insight into the situation is Republican-leaning pollsters like Rasmussen giving really bad numbers for Trump - which means that even in their biased models, the government is not doing what people want.
Where I disagree with you is on the cause of the shift, especially among independents. I do not think they want more of the situation in Minneapolis. Also, there are 13% dissatisfied Republicans as well, if we are to trust this poll. I do not think most Americans care about some political justice for Biden-era people or whatever you meant by that - let's be real, most politicians and government workers behave the same way whoever is in power. Trump seems to not be delivering on standard of living (cost of living, as you Americans call it) - and that's his biggest issue. Or maybe the Epstein situation is bigger, I don't know.
I do not think 2028 is the year for Republicans; I think it is already lost at the presidential level. You said yourself, two years of deadlock within the government for any big changes, which the voters expected, especially on the economy - he will have a hard time delivering.
What I believe is that smart Republicans will not even attempt 2028. JD Vance will probably fall on that sword and end his political career in high positions.
2032 will be the big year for Republicans, though. I think that under the current political landscape, Democrats have already lost the 2032 elections, with Texas and California becoming almost equal in electoral college math after 2030 census. It will probably be a more mainstream old type, not MAGA, Republican, which will probably give space to Democrats for their Trump of sort which will revitalize their base and expand it for 2030s and the new electoral college reality. At the end of the day, average lower to upper middle class people do not really have any power - whoever is governing.
Do you think Trump might attempt to modify the Constitution and run for 3rd term?
Very interesting times are ahead of us I believe. All this we theorize about 2028 and even the midterms might as well be completely wrong if AI bubble pops for example. Also, if AI keeps progressing at the current pace, we might as well have completely new level and technology in political campaigning in 2028 elections etc. There is a saying in my country, "God forbid you live in interesting times" - but the choice seems to be out of our hands.
P.S A lot of different topics within one post, I know... My brain just wonders sometimes...
Trump's net approval among independents has dropped to an all-time low of -40% (or -48% if you include leaners), according to recent polls. How should we read this? Polls have always tended to underestimate Trump, but not by that much, so it's hard to believe these numbers are wildly off. Considering that independents split evenly in 2024 (48 - 48) between Trump and Harris (compared to a 43-52 split against Biden in 2020) this looks like a pretty bad sign for Republicans.
I assume all "polls" are lies until proven otherwise.
Also, I would keep in mind there's a difference between approval ratings and voter intentions.
I think there's a significant segment of the population (myself included) who are frustrated by the lack of arrests, lack of justice/accountability for Biden-era people and Democrats in general, and seeming backtracking on mass deportations. We want Trump to go harder, not cave in. If I were to answer an approval ratings question today I might say "slightly DISapprove". But if I were voting tomorrow I'd vote for Trump and any candidates he endorses 100%. I think Trump could have a lot of supporters currently in the "disapprove" camp who would still vote for him regardless.
That said, I'm already assuming Republicans will lose the midterms in 2026. That's been the pattern in recent memory (i.e. the President's party losing in the midterms). Plus there's the fact that the Republican party itself is spineless and incompetent. (The Democrats are equally incompetent, but at least they try harder.)
Trump is not on the ballot in 2026, so a lot of his supporters presumably won't bother to show up, even if they would otherwise vote for candidates he endorses. It's hard to get excited going to vote for somebody like Mike Johnson (who's a big loser). Meanwhile the Dems are all riled up and angry, as usual, so they'll show up in greater numbers. Gotta defeat those "nazis" and all, or whatever they think we are.
So basically Trump has only 1 year left if he's going to get anything else done. After the midterms, assuming the Democrats take over one or both Houses of Congress, we'll spend the rest of '27-28 with impeachments, fake investigations, and overall deadlock. But, hopefully, after 2 shitty deadlocked years those independents will be fed up with the Democrats again, enough to put JD Vance over the top in 2028.
Trump's net approval among independents has dropped to an all-time low of -40% (or -48% if you include leaners), according to recent polls. How should we read this? Polls have always tended to underestimate Trump, but not by that much, so it's hard to believe these numbers are wildly off. Considering that independents split evenly in 2024 (48 - 48) between Trump and Harris (compared to a 43-52 split against Biden in 2020) this looks like a pretty bad sign for Republicans.
In the game, Khau has a reputation for being way too good at convincing top players to join his clan. Instead of just relying on skill or teamwork, he flashes rewards and incentives that make his clan look irresistible. Pro players see the chance for easy benefits and end up leaving their original teams, even if they were already doing well. It feels less like friendly competition and more like he's buying loyalty, which takes away from the spirit of earning success through effort and teamwork. That's why it seems like he's "stealing" players, not by force, but by making offers that are hard to refuse.
What makes it even crazier is that once these pros join his clan, the balance of the game changes. Other clans struggle because their strongest players are suddenly gone, and Khau's clan becomes stacked with talent. It creates a cycle where winning brings more rewards, and more rewards bring even more players. While it might be smart strategy, it also feels unfair to those who try to build their clans through trust, practice, and loyalty instead of money or prizes. In the end, it turns the game into a competition of who can offer more, not who can play better.