JoeyJungle

Just want to pop in here to recommend the 2005 novel The Plot Against America by Philip Roth. It's an alternative history novel where Charles Lindbergh (spokesperson of the America First Committee in 1940) defeats Roosevelt from winning his third term as president, and the novel focuses on a Jewish family living in Lindbergh's America. I'm reading it right now because Trumpcast is doing a book club on it, and it's a pretty uncomfortable read for a lot of reasons. What's especially resonated with me about the book so far is how frustratingly well it depicts the subtle changes in the behavior of strangers, and the psychological toll that has on minorities.

Really enjoyed this discussion! I've had this game in my wishlist for a while just because I liked the game's aesthetic, I didn't realize that it was developed by Klei. I thought it was interesting that they were planning for the player to learn a lot of the game via the UI and tooltips. That was the same design philosophy behind EU4, which cut the game's tutorial by about 90%, but had helpful tooltips for pretty much every section of the UI. I guess this isn't a surprising trend, because strategy games have traditionally relied heavily on "Play it until you grock it", but I think it's interesting that developers are more saying that tutorials are for getting your feet wet and not totally necessary, paying attention to tooltips while playing the game is the best way to learn it, manuals and trial-and-error are how to internalize the game's rules or learn the nitty-gritty details. I'm always surprised by the games coming from Klei, I'm glad you guys touched on that at the end of the podcast. I hope they spill the beans on some of their discarded projects at some point. Off-topic: I remember Rob mentioning a space strategy game in development that didn't have players building/customizing their own ships. I think it was during the end of year podcast? Anyone remember what that was?

I did a quick google search and browse through the thread, but I can't find the Smash metagame article Chris mentioned. Does anyone have a link for that?

Long time reader, first time caller! About the fish in the percolator, in episode 3, when Pete's shining his shoes on Catherine's bed, he mentions "I had a problem with a fish. Took a liking to my percolator." He says it in I think a pretty accusatory tone, and then Catherine ignores it to asks what Cooper was asking Josie about, and Pete bruskly goes "Why don't you ask her yourself." I took this as implying that Catherine put a fish in the percolator, maybe as petty revenge for him siding with Josie about shutting down the mill. I'd love for you guys to talk more about the opening of the show. I totally thought that the first thing Jake would mention would be the R.L. Stine-esque fonts that the opening credits have. I've never really been sure how to interpret the beginning of the show, the visuals/audio/font always comes to me as "This is so 90's" and kinda cracks me up and it's difficult for me to interpret it as anything else, but surely there must be some kind of intention behind it? Is maybe the opening meant to be basically establishing a small peaceful town through the images, and the font styles are supposed to hint at something sinister about it, and the music is supposed to represent the mysterious?

Haha, sweet! I came in here just to look for book recommendations on the eastern front! Every time I listen to a 3MA about historical wargames, I always want to learn more about whatever period they're talking about. I'm listening to the audiobook of Caesar's commentaries right now because of their conversation about the Rome 2 expansion last week.