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 Oh look, it's another Wiz Paradox LP Yes, yes it is. After the end of Crete, I thought about branching out into other types of games, but given that the other Paradox LPs seem to have died off, I might as well stick with what I know and enjoy. Is this going to be another Crete thread with 850 pages of goons bickering? No, I'm styling this thread after my Hohenzollern thread which means audience participation only as an occasional vote, no Senates or legislative sessions. The focus of this thread will be the narrative, not the audience. So what's new about this one? Well, I think we've seen every possible combination of 'Catholic empire conquers the world' so this time I will be playing as a Muslim power, specifically as the Sultanate of Azerbaijan. As with the Hohenzollern LP, I will be placing heavy restrictions on myself, including playing with the Semisalic Gavelkind law in CK (meaning my empire will be split up between a host of heirs whenever my rulers die) and severe badboy restrictions in EU3. The aim of this LP is to be told from the perspective of a backwater Muslim power, dealing with the challenges of western domination and imperialism that are inherent in Paradox games, so don't expect Azerbaijan to be at the top of research or be colonize America unless the development of the game world somehow makes it sensible for us to be so. Which games are you going to play? Crusader Kings 1187-1400, Europa Universalis III 1400-1836, and Victoria 2 1836-?. I will (most likely) not be playing AoD or HOI2 this time around, but haven't decided how far to take it in Vicky 2. Are you going to mod this up and release the scenarios? You bet. I will release the EU3 scenario when I'm done with EU3, and the Vic2 scenario when I'm done with Vic2. I have no idea what these Paradox games are Take a look at this thread. I'm not going to get into game mechanics during the LP, but will try to write the narrative in such a way that you can follow it without actually knowing anything about the games. I will also try to answer any game mechanics questions asked in the thread. Finally, feel free to look me up on skype (m.anward) and ask to join the WizLP chat group if you want to talk about Azerbaijans. How often will you update? At minimum once a week. My life's a bit busier than during the last LPs, but other than during game conversions I'm going to do my best to avoid long breaks.   Chapter 1: Prologue Chapter 2: The Third Crusade Chapter 3: Man of Peace Chapter 4: Inheritor Chapter 5: Jihad Chapter 6: Conqueror Chapter 7: The Scourge Chapter 8: Exile Chapter 9: Land of the Nile Chapter 10: Swarm of Locusts Chapter 11: The Brave Die Young Chapter 12: Homecoming Chapter 13: Respite Chapter 14: Peace and Prosperity Chapter 15: Death Marches On Chapter 16: Weight of the World Chapter 17: Recovery Chapter 18: The Return to Derbent Chapter 19: The Last Ildeguzid Chapter 20: Epilogue  Chapter 1: Prologue Chapter 2: House of Najjar Chapter 3: Border Wars Chapter 4: Instability Chapter 5: Reformer Chapter 6: The World of 1450 Chapter 7: Religious Differences Chapter 8: Vicious Cycle Chapter 9: Nation Building Chapter 10: New Ideas Chapter 11: The Conquest of Astrakhan Chapter 12: The World of 1500 Chapter 13: Religious Divisions Chapter 14: Namesake Chapter 15: A Few Good Years Chapter 16: Birth of Nations Chapter 17: Suzerain Chapter 18: The World of 1550 Chapter 19: The Crimean War Chapter 20: Leadership Chapter 21: Realignment Chapter 22: Plague Chapter 23: Yesterday's Allies Chapter 24: The World of 1600 Chapter 25: Great Wars Chapter 26: New Order Chapter 27: Caution Chapter 28: Tears and Ashes Chapter 29: Victory in Defeat Chapter 30: The World of 1650 Chapter 31: Border Clash Chapter 32: Enlightenment Chapter 33: Reformer Chapter 34: Builder Chapter 35: The Brothers Daei Chapter 36: The World of 1700 Chapter 37: Blind Ambition Chapter 38: Will of Allah Chapter 39: Despot Chapter 40: Father's Son Chapter 41: The World of 1750 Chapter 42: Plutocracy Chapter 43: The Sword and the Pen Chapter 44: Revolution Chapter 45: Liberalism Chapter 46: The World of 1800 Chapter 47: Passing the Torch Chapter 48: The Last Armenian War Chapter 49: Before the Storm Chapter 50: Epilogue  Chapter 1: March to the Sound of Guns Chapter 2: Lessons Learned Chapter 3: Reversals  Interesting Dynasties in 1250 The Brethren What if Wiz was just playing to win? (Chapter 1) (Chapter 2) (Chapter 3) (Chapter 4) (Chapter 5) Azeri WOLFE Tolerance Wolfe! (By Kersch) Political Cartoons by Thanqol   Sultans of Azerbaijan (made by DarkCrawler - amazing summary of the rulers thus far) Tsars of Russia (DarkCrawler being awesome again)  Download EU3+ 1.06 Wiz fucked around with this message at May 14, 2013 around 19:26 |
| # ? Aug 4, 2011 19:58 |
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| # ? May 20, 2013 07:30 |
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Finally! I like the banners.
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| # ? Aug 4, 2011 19:59 |
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Nothing to see here.
Wiz fucked around with this message at Aug 5, 2011 around 11:36 |
| # ? Aug 4, 2011 19:59 |
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Let not the failures of Crete and Suabia affect your morales, people of SA. For Azerbaijan is the light that brings hope to Eurabia!
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| # ? Aug 4, 2011 20:00 |
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Shia all the way!
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| # ? Aug 4, 2011 20:01 |
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Gorgo Primus posted:Shia all the way! Suffi. 
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| # ? Aug 4, 2011 20:03 |
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Shafufi?
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| # ? Aug 4, 2011 20:05 |
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Gorgo Primus posted:Shafufi? Shuffia is a much better name.
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| # ? Aug 4, 2011 20:08 |
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I think I just came a little when I saw the thread title and OP. I'm so loving down for this wiz. 
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| # ? Aug 4, 2011 20:10 |
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Looking forward to reading it, Wiz. And good call on reducing audience participation. Reading the Crete LP was fun, but the continual, sophistical, circular arguments in the Senate must've been a lot more fun to participate in than they were to read.
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| # ? Aug 4, 2011 20:20 |
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Any specific reason for the lack of HoI? I'm not a super-expert on this series, so I wouldn't know of any reason to exclude it. Either way, I am way the gently caress looking forward to this.
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| # ? Aug 4, 2011 20:22 |
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ChaosSamusX posted:Any specific reason for the lack of HoI? I'm not a super-expert on this series, so I wouldn't know of any reason to exclude it. Either way, I am way the gently caress looking forward to this. Mainly the insane conversion time. During the Hohenzollern LP it took me something like 4x as long to convert vicky to HOI as all the other conversions combined, and that was with an incomplete conversion. Not really feeling up for doing it again, though I might feel differently when the end of vicky rolls around.
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| # ? Aug 4, 2011 20:23 |
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Wiz posted:Mainly the insane conversion time. During the Hohenzollern LP it took me something like 4x as long to convert vicky to HOI as all the other conversions combined, and that was with an incomplete conversion. Not really feeling up for doing it again, though I might feel differently when the end of vicky rolls around. Ah, that makes enough sense. What exactly does the conversion process entail? How much of it is automatic, and how much of it has to be done manually?
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| # ? Aug 4, 2011 20:27 |
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ChaosSamusX posted:Ah, that makes enough sense. What exactly does the conversion process entail? How much of it is automatic, and how much of it has to be done manually? There are converters, but I find that they usually make a mess of things so I always do it by hand.
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| # ? Aug 4, 2011 20:28 |
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Yessssss, another Wiz Paradox LP! I read the Germany one in the archive before I joined SA, and I. Joined Crete right when it was wraping up. Now I can be on the ground floor of the brand new journey into alternate history 
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| # ? Aug 4, 2011 20:41 |
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Yay, a new Paradox LP I can follow after getting burned out on the Crete one.
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| # ? Aug 4, 2011 20:46 |
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Well, this should be relaxing. Time to sit back and watch instead of jumping up and yelling at everything.
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| # ? Aug 4, 2011 20:54 |
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Oh man, this is gonna be awesome. I loved the previous LPs, and I'll be able to participate in this one.
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| # ? Aug 4, 2011 20:56 |
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Tomn posted:Well, this should be relaxing. Time to sit back and watch instead of jumping up and yelling at everything. Ooh, I actually already appointed you as the thread's Muezzin. Sorry about that.
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| # ? Aug 4, 2011 20:56 |
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So i take it that Sniper is the Vizier or something?
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| # ? Aug 4, 2011 21:04 |
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Frionnel posted:So i take it that Sniper is the Vizier or something? Captain of the eunuchs who guard the Royal Harem.
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| # ? Aug 4, 2011 21:05 |
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Wiz posted:Ooh, I actually already appointed you as the thread's Muezzin. Sorry about that. Oh, well, um, er, I'm a bit out of practice, so, uh...lesse, how do you do this.... O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant...
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| # ? Aug 4, 2011 21:05 |
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Zeroisanumber posted:Captain of the eunuchs who guard the Royal Harem. Perfect.
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| # ? Aug 4, 2011 21:07 |
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Are you going to be using Divine Wind once EU3 hits?
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| # ? Aug 4, 2011 21:09 |
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Another Wiz LP! I can't wait to see our empire break up every singe time our king dies. Which character do you continue to play as? The first in line?
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| # ? Aug 4, 2011 21:09 |
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 Can't wait to see you get in to pointless wars with Georgia and Persia over worthless tracts of land.
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| # ? Aug 4, 2011 21:12 |
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In Crusader Kings, how does Switzerland play? Are the Cantons under the control of other factions? I'm curious because I'm playing Divine Wind with Switzerland right now and I wanted to know how they play in the previous game.
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| # ? Aug 4, 2011 21:18 |
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It is nice to get a new, fresh start. Let's see the glorious rise and hilarious misstep of our country.
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| # ? Aug 4, 2011 21:21 |
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Frionnel posted:So i take it that Sniper is the Vizier or something? Unlimitttted. POOOOOWER!
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| # ? Aug 4, 2011 21:25 |
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i poo poo trains posted:
And the inevitable Mongol rear end whuppin.
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| # ? Aug 4, 2011 21:30 |
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And Pytheid appearing from another dimesnion to leade Azerbaijan as Al-Pyte'id the Greater. VVV Just wait until Vicky. Frionnel fucked around with this message at Aug 4, 2011 around 21:47 |
| # ? Aug 4, 2011 21:34 |
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Hooray! We get to vote to cause our caliphate (or whatever) to go down in ruin and ignominy! And no arguments about democracy! Even better!
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| # ? Aug 4, 2011 21:38 |
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I have to admit I don't know a lot about this country's history. At this time there might be people still alive whose grandparents told them about the way it was before the Turks came? What's the dealio in 1187?
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| # ? Aug 4, 2011 21:44 |
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 Chapter 1: Prologue (1187 - 1190) Welcome to Azerbaijan! Situated on the Caspian sea in the Caucasus region, it has a long and colorful history of different peoples and religions, having been a part of at varying times the Scythian conquests, various Persian dynasties, the Seleucid Empire, the Umayyad Caliphate and finally the USSR before achieving independence in 1991. In 1187 however, Azerbaijan is under the rulership of the Ildeguzid dynasty. The dynasty was founded by Shams ad-Dīn Eldegüz, a slave of the Turkish Seljuk Empire who was appointed ruler of Azerbaijan in 1137. When the Seljuk Empire collapsed, the Ildeguzids continued to rule over Azerbaijan until its conquest by the Shah of Khwarizm in 1225. Little is known of the Ildeguzid dynasty, though they are said to have been great sponsors of art and poetry. Our territory consists of seven Beyliks (Counties), each ruled by a vassal Bey, with the exception of Tabriz which is a vassal Emirate of ours who have their own vassal in the Beylik of Gilan. Though we can demand scutage (a percent of tax income) and military service from our vassals, in all other respects they effectively rule themselves, and only the Beylik of Azerbaijan is under our direct control.  Our immediate neighbours in the middle east is a mix of Catholic, Orthodox and Muslim states. The Fatimid and Byzantine empires are the great powers of the middle east, with Khwarizm being the regional great power around the Caspian.  To the north, Russia is divided into a dozen squabbling principalties, surrounded by pagan tribes and the great pagan Cuman empire. The Kingdoms of Hungary and Poland guard the entrance to Europe.  To our west, the Almohad Caliphate controls much of Iberia and North Africa, engaged in a struggle for its very existance against the Catholic reconquista. Italy is divided into two kingdoms, the northern Kingdom of Italy ruled by the heir to the Holy Roman Empire, and the southern Kingdom of Naples-Sicily ruled by Norman kings from northern france.  The Holy Roman Empire, or Kingdom of Germany as it's more derisively known, dominates Europe. In the far northwest, France and England are engaged in struggles over the control of Normandy, Brittanny and Aquitania. (Yes, I know England is supposed to hold more land historically but I find that this always dooms France to nonexistance, so I'm taking a few liberties with the scenario for gameplay balance).  Our ruler is Qizil-Arslan Uthman, the second of the Ildeguzid rulers. A man of modest talent, his only noteworthy trait is a penchant for intrigue. As most turks, he adheres to the Sunni school of Islam.  Our most important vassal is the Emir of Tabriz, who controls the two richest Beyliks in Azerbaijan, and who would make a powerful challenger to our ruler if we antagonize him.  The neighbour that gives us the most immediate concern is Khwarizm and its warlike Shah, who controls the vast and rich lands of Persia.  After a long period of squabbling Emirs fighting each other, Syria and Egypt have been unified under Salah ad-Din, who has sworn to retake Jerusalem and the Dome of the Rock from the Crusaders.  Though but a shadow of its former self, the Byzantine Empire is still wealthy and powerful, but the glory days of its Angelos dynasty are long over. Historically, they oversaw (and were partly responsible for) the sack of Constantinople during the fourth crusade. The current Emperor is a weak and lazy man, more interested in praying to God than running his empire.  The King of the Cumans rules vast lands to the north, threatening Christian and Muslim rulers alike with his innumerable hordes of pagan horsemen.  Our most immediate rival is Georgia, of roughly equal size and wealth to Azerbaijan, currently ruled by a highly skilled young queen.  Another of our close rivals, the Alans hold a wealthy principality squeezed between Georgia and the Cumans,  The Seljuks still control a small fraction of their empire in the Sultanate of Rum, and other splinter states of roughly equal power to us include the Sultan of Kirkuk and the Sultan of Erzerum.    The Abbasid dynasty of Baghdad, still insisting on being called the rightful Caliphs, have regained some of their power after being turned into a vassal state by the Seljuks. Though far from a great power, they are at least a rival and threat to Khwarizm.  The Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem, established after the brutal conquest of Jerusalem in 1099, has fallen on hard times after the death of its leper king, Baldwin IV. It is now completely enveloped by Saladin, its only allies being the weak principality of Antioch.  Far away in Iberia, Abu Yusuf Ya'qub al-Mumin rules the apex power of Islam, the Almohad Caliphate. A ruler of modest talents, he is nonetheless known to the planning a great push north to retake lands lost to the spanish crusaders.  In Europe, Friedrich Barbarossa rules as Holy Roman Emperor despite advancing age. The Pope is trying to convince Barbarossa to turn his armies either towards the Almohads or the Fatimids, but whether the German Emperor will listen is yet to be seen.  Azerbaijan is ruled according to traditional Turkish customs and Sharia law. Upon the death of a ruler, the Semisalic Gavelkind law means that the ruler's titles are split between the ruler's male descendants, including those tracing their inheritance through the female lineage.  The treasury and the court. (Note that because I am playing a Muslim country, which you're not actually supposed to do in Crusader Kings, I have to deal with various inconveniences such as not being able to appoint a Diocese Bishop. It also means some things won't make perfect sense, like only being able to have one wife, women in court positions etc, but just roll with it.)  Finally, the province of Azerbaijan itself. A fairly rich province, though by no means the richest in the Sultanate, famous mainly for its great mosque.  An envoy from the Shah of Khwarizm arrives at court, offering an alliance between Khwarizm and Azerbaijan. Eager to have the mighty neighbour as friends, Qizil readily agrees.  He next sets about finding a wife to sire sons and secure the future of the dynasty. He ends up choosing a young woman from an influenctial family in Tabriz, known for her good hand with finances.   The marriage quickly bears fruit and a son and heir, whom Qizil names Murad. The son is followed by a daughter named Zehra.   Qizil turns his attention to the development of his territory, creating a court of justice to administer sharia law and a a training-grounds to help raise troops faster in the event of war.  He also finds himself more and more drawn to his young wife, but when she suggests that he should take no other wives than her, he rebuffs her, saying that he needs to sire many sons to secure the future of the dynasty. This does not endear him to Ayse, and soon he has a bitter rival in his own wife and steward.  Qizil's vassals also start making noise, with the Bey of Suenik having the audacity to demand changes to Azerbaijan's succession law, a demand that is forcefully rejected.  As the year turns to 1190, Caliph Abu has made reality of his plans, invading the Kingdom of Castille and conquering much land, but falling in battle outside Toledo.  An infant now rules as Caliph, and the future of the Almohad Caliphate remains as uncertain as ever. 
Wiz fucked around with this message at Oct 3, 2011 around 16:15 |
| # ? Aug 4, 2011 21:49 |
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/\/\/\ That's what I get for not hitting preview after composing. I'm wondering if Wiz has read Kim Stanley Robinson's Years of Rice and Salt, and if so has it affected his narrative plans? It's a fairly chunky novel about an alternate history of the world after the Black Death wipes Christianity out. Anyway, this LP will be good.
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| # ? Aug 4, 2011 21:50 |
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Wow, I totally forgot that this was going to be a thing and I was sad that the Suebi got annexed because it meant no more Wiz LP for a while; but I suppose it's actually been quite some time since Crete finished so hooray! V V
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| # ? Aug 4, 2011 21:54 |
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Oh well. That will be a quick Reconquista.
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| # ? Aug 4, 2011 22:03 |
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I hate to complain this early in the LP, but would you consider using PNGs instead of JPGs? CK has a lot of small text and all these artifacts are getting in the way of readability.
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| # ? Aug 4, 2011 22:17 |
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i poo poo trains posted:I hate to complain this early in the LP, but would you consider using PNGs instead of JPGs? CK has a lot of small text and all these artifacts are getting in the way of readability. Will switch to PNGs until end of CK, updates just tend to get kind of huge.
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| # ? Aug 4, 2011 22:20 |
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| # ? May 20, 2013 07:30 |
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Alas poor Morocco, we hardly knew ye.
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| # ? Aug 4, 2011 22:22 |
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