Monty's Mighty Moustache

That's almost as good as equipping airmobile brigades with AeroGavin:

 
 
 

Pal, sometime when I read your last posts I recall Denetor, who looked at palantir during a siege of Minas-Tirith %) Of course, we had very hard year and broken hopes, but I not shure that all go to complete bad scenario. What I fully agree - when Russia asks "Iran, give me 1000 Shakeds!", Iran answers "here you are!", when Russian asks N.Korea "Kim, give me 10000000 shells", N.Korea (China) answers "Here you are". But when Ukraine asks "Allies! Give me... Patriots, Leos, Abrams, shells" aliies answer "well, we will support you till the end! But... we need to gather Ramstein through two months, conduct discussions, discuss all pro- and contra... And memento escalation of course" 
And only small Denmark silently says "Psss... I heard you need arty? We have some cool stuff. Take all wahat we have. We anyway will not make war with Norway or Germany"

Zeleban is not a Russian troll. I have been following his posts for over a year and he seems like a really honest guy who just says what he thinks. I do not agree with a few things he said in the last few pages but in the grand scheme of things lets not forget he is actually living in Ukraine right now.
He sees this war in a way us who just follow it on the Internet cannot, so lets give him a break for passionately voicing his opinions even if we do not agree with some of those opinions.

I did 20+ years in the US Army. I went to Desert Storm and did 2 tours in Iraq. You have no idea at all about our professionalism and our capabilities. You know even less about Americans and what we will or will not fight for. Drop this stupid argument, and let's get back on topic.

Oh boy, here we go:
 

On one fine day, I was concussed when an enemy shell exploded literally a meter from a hole into which I jumped at the last moment. Then another stone flew into my ribs and I thought with relief that now I was wounded and would go to rest.
              But it was just a stone, and all I got was a very bad headache for the next few months. When the very active phase of the assault ended, the service was established, then I finally transferred to Petrichenko's gang to fly the Mavic. How it was and what it cost is a separate story.
              It was there that we encountered the moment when the enemy left Kherson. Yes, the enemy left in November. But in my opinion, these were the first steps towards them leaving. In the next thread, I will tell how they left, how we entered the villages, how I climbed the enemy's positions and how I almost died.
              Were there any wild moments? So. Were there any problems? So. But let me tell you about them after the war. Not to go storming Pisky now.
 
 

It is very interesting how a former intelligence officer, while in prison, managed to organize and carry out one of the most complex operations of our time. Despite the fact that he had only a few childishly naive failed operations.

Indeed everyone wants their new toys rather earlier than later. And when one has ordered them, almost all humans can be diagnosticised with the 'when is it ready/is it there yet?' syndrom. Some jobs role is basically to perform this role (PM ;-)).
Orwell called it 'time neurosis'.
Since time is relative, 'slow' is also relative. Some companies/games might come with updates every week/month. Some people will still call that slow. Other games might come with updates on a yearly/longer basis. One can find that slow on the 'expecting' side, those on the 'producing' side might disagree.
Then we also have different preferences for news updates.
I think Steve and BFC have commented very often in the past that they are weary of communicating news, as almost any communication will create expectancy, which will then have to be managed. They could probably hire a communications manager who's job it would be to update the community about ongoing stuff.
However, that in itself wouldn't do anything in the sense of 'faster' game development or releases. Instead it would probably be slower because the communication manager would need to be informed about progress on a regular basis. It would also soup up some of the budget now allocated towards development.
Give or take, that's how I understand BFC's hussle and I'm fine with it personally. Of course it is also fine if others would desire more information or more and faster releases, and post about that. 
I don't think things will change because of that. We can also ponder about the question whether it would be a good idea for BFC to grow by a large amount, potentially increasing development capacity and more releases in shorter time. That is one option, the other option is the risk that the extra releases don't offset against the extra costs and is a real potential business risk.
I think the ones best to make that decision is people inside the business themselves, because they have the knowledge. It's also their decision.
But yeah I'd also like to see game engine 5 rather sooner than later, or CM3 for that matter. SO, WHEN IS IT READY!!???   

I keep seeing people commenting on Steve’s priorities like they know exactly what he’s working on and how he spends his time. But none of you do, unless you work closely with or know him well.
Now you can comment on the “impression” you get of how what he is working on, that’s fair, but to say he needs to sort his priorities out based on that is ridiculous 

As far as I'm concerned people have not experienced great cinema, until they watch The Thing at night in the dead of winter with a glass of J&B in their hand. I think that movie is the main reason I have been drinking J&B scotch for over a decade now. 😀
Anyway, back on topic. Another one bites the dust!
 

Yeah this sort of “omg they’re not doing anything and they don’t care” nonsense always gets kicked around when there’s been few releases. Nothing new. Just because Steve talks about the Ukraine war doesn’t mean jack squat. You’re equating two things that are completely unrelated. It’s not logical. Does he need your permission to talk to his relatives on the phone too? How about running to the grocery store for food? 😗

I keep seeing people commenting on Steve’s priorities like they know exactly what he’s working on and how he spends his time. But none of you do, unless you work closely with or know him well.
Now you can comment on the “impression” you get of how what he is working on, that’s fair, but to say he needs to sort his priorities out based on that is ridiculous 

People on the internet telling someone that he should tweak his priorities. It would be funny if it wasn't so pathetic.

Yes, but at the moment I am guided by the 0.7 liters of Madeira I drank. Rain outside the window, live concert of Depeche Mode 1993. And the lack of obvious successes of the Ukrainian armed forces. 
Many of my childhood friends are afraid of this call. But I think. that this is the duty of everyone who lived carefree in the 90s

I can say that I am not afraid of death or injury, but of the stupidity of my command, or of my future colleagues

Be that as it may, I can say that times have changed. compared to last year. I had a development project. But because of the war, I decided that civilian projects would not benefit my country and decided to join the Ukrainian armed forces. Moreover, recently chronic diseases are not considered an obstacle to recruitment

I like it when a plan comes together! 
I was rather chuffed that this close assault by my SPW mounted panzer grenadiers worked.
Took some previous suppression fire and ensuring I'd KO'd any enemy AT guns, then drive at full speed onto the position, all guns on board blazing.
It does not often go quite to plan like this...
 

If I had a £1 for every time I heard that, from those I have managed IT projects for, I would be very rich.
I will leave it to Elvis to decide if he wants to adopt your suggestion.
Maybe it's really easy....
😉

Is the choice of Forum optimal? Probably not.
Does it really matter enough to keep derailing the discussion? Definitely not.

Something I can't believe I never thought of before: distant low flying aircraft can be engaged by MANPADS at a shallow angle... for example, out a window. Maybe best finding a much bigger room to absorb that backblast though.
 

Another interesting one:
Raises some questions to me:
Have people started painting the top side of drones yet? That Zala was ridiculously easy to spot and would have been less so even if the topside was just matt green or something. Are drones so expendable it's not worth it? Is the EW capability there to allow the use of friendly drones but jam the enemy? Does the profusion of COTS drones on both sides prohibit that because they all share similar frequencies? How easy are drones to operate? How easy should drones be to operate? Assuming the operator/team was destroyed in that shack, how easy are they to replace? Are they specialists that need specific training, or can you grab anyone who played a modern games console? Or... does someone in the Russian army consider a drone, operator and team eating a precision munition an attritional win for them? Either way... someone should probably explain that counterbattery rules apply to them too. I can remember plenty of videos of Ukrainian drone operators being very careful about retrieving their drones. It would be interesting to find out how the Ukrainian drone was in the right place at the right time to pick them up. It could be sheer chance, but did they chase the Zala? Intercept it after getting information it was heading in x direction? Were they lurking in anticpation based on SIGINT?

Too early.  That is a really tough one without being inside the UA staff and knowing the details.  Of course there was political pressure, we were talking about a UA offensive months before it happened.  But there were also military factors.  How long do you let the RA dig in?  How long to replace losses from their failed winter offensives?  What was the force generation trajectory for UA reinforcements?  How are sustainment and enablers holding up?
My guess is that 1) the UA knew the RA was pretty badly mauled, 2) was creating a Putin line of defence along their most likely axis of advance, and 3) they were in about as good a shape as they were going to get.  Alternatively, perhaps the UA knew the offensive would take much longer to yield results and wanted to get to those benchmarks before Winter.  
The UA tried a western style larger push at the beginning and they all got blunted pretty badly.  So they switched to Kherson style small bites, which also would have been programmed into any options analysis.
Finally, the rules of war are all up in the air.  I am a broken record on that point.  Take any metrics you may have about how war is supposed to work and throw them out the window.  We have never had a war operationally like this one since Iran-Iraq in the 80s.  We have not had one strategically since Korea.  We did learn that minefields, ATGMs and stand-off tac aviation still work for the RA, even if their arty has been degraded.  It appears that even basic tac ISR is working for the RA in holding a line.  The RA are leaning on what they are good at…lots of troops dug in.
What is surprising is RA morale.  How on earth they are holding it together after last winter is beyond me - I guess that Russian steel is still out there.  They have also managed to keep an operational system floating after horrendous losses.  As we discussed, the bar is much lower on defence, but still…
So here we are, waiting for something to happen.  Or not, which is still something.  Can the RA still break?  Definitely. Can the UA fail and lose initiative?  Definitely.  Is you favourite pet platform going to make a difference, probably not, but we should probably keep pushing it anyway.
 

Guys, gotta get out of your own heads. 
Russian strategic aims:
- Full subjugation of Ukraine, pulling it in as a puppet state a la Belarus. 
- Division and weakening of NATO in order to give breathing room within Russia sphere
- A united greater Russia under a new Czar
I don't care if Poppy Orange gets in and cuts off the taps - that up there is not going to happen without the entire world abandoning Ukraine, and whole lot more to be honest.  Could we snatch defeat from the jaws of victory?  Sure, but it is a reach to see things failing that badly.  Even if we do abandon Ukraine, it is a country of 44 million and really...really...p$ssed off right now.  They will dig in and fight like badgers because they have seen what the alternative looks like. 
After Bucha et al, Ukraine is never going to embrace Russia.  NATO has secured unity and defence spending for at least a couple decades because now there is a threat that isn't a few idiots in white Toyotas in countries we didn't even know existed.  And Russia is a mess, and will likely remain one.  There will be no western normalization with Russia after this, or if there is, shame on us.
US Pol is not the driving factor in Russia achieving its strategic objectives (stated or unstated) in this war.  It is a driving factor in how badly they lose it.

Final death count - 51. 
This is Denys Kozyr and his wife - former serviceman of AFU, who participated in this war, but recently retired by health problems.

His father went to front with him and was killed. The son, returning to home decided to move the grave of father from Dnipo city cemetry to his native village. As this costumary in out villages, many people came to memorial dinner in this cafe and around. Obviously some local taritor sent information to Russia that "funerals of "Aydar" nazi will take place and many nationalists will be expected". This is not in first time. About half year ago Russians launched Iskander at funeral procession of "Azov" fighter in Dnipropetrovksk oblast, but then Russians missed and only several people were wounded. In this time missile hit precisely. 
Almost all Kozyr's families (his and wife) were killed in this strike as well as almost half of current village population. Russian media and TGs initailly celebrating "perfect shot, sending many Aydar nazi to Bandera", but when cadres of dead civilans appeared, Russians as always rebooted in air and became to clame this is Ukrainians launch this missile to have arguments to get more weapon.  
After this and today Kharkiv strike, it's ridiculous to hear from Scholz about "escalation if we give Taurus to Ukraine" and "Taurus is very complicated for target programming" (I remember this "Western weapon is too complicated to Ukrainians, it's nees years to learn it" in first months of war)