Rant 548 / Cordon Bleu

I didn't know that there is Caffeine-free Diet Coca Cola out there until now.



It's got no sugar and no caffeine but still called Coke. That's like a plate of spaghetti bolognese that contains no meat or tomato!













Yes! My first victory against an army twice my size!! My 74 men defeated a 160-man force. Woohoo! I lost a lot of top soldiers in the battle! Now I have to retrain them slowly. According to my estimates, the best soldiers I lost are

- 4 Sarranid Mamlukes
- 1 Rhodok Sergeant
- 3 Rhodok Veteran Spearmen
- 1 Nord Huscarl
- 5 Swadian Man-at-arms
- 2 Vaegir Marksmen
- 1 Khergit Lancer

As you can see, most of these valuable men are infantry. Infantry is great for sieges since horses can't climb siege ladders, but they get slaughtered in open combat. My one Huscarl... gone! The Huscarl is the toughest and most badass infantry in the game, and the most expensive. It takes forever to train one without combat.

The only good thing is that one of the Swadian Man-at-arms finally got enough experience to be promoted to a Swadian Knight. As far as I can tell, the Swadian Knight is the toughest cavalry in the game. That's why I didn't lose my single Swadian Knight in that long battle.

But while I was travelling around to trade I found Dhirim under siege. It belonged to the Khergits, whom my faction the Sarranids are at war with. I'm not officially allied or whatever with the Vaegirs but I thought I'd help them with the siege to balance things up. The enemy of my enemy is my ally.

So while I was pwning the archers with my siege crossbow (it was pure ecstasy to snipe with a heavy siege crossbow - everything dies in 2 shots at most!), I suddenly realized the guy fighting next to me was the Vaegir King!



How did he get that cool mask?

The improvement in relations with his faction wasn't useful but... what a coincidence! No wonder he was able to beat 3 soldiers alone!













Loving the Champion Coursers. It's the fastest horse in the game but also one of the weakest. This horse is actually my 3rd Courser. Lost a Spirited Courser (best maneuver, slightly lower speed) and another Champion Courser during battles, which explains why I'm down to 23k denars.

This horse is great if you're into lancing, which I evidently am. No other game has this combat feature, which makes it such an interesting fighting style. Basically I just get my horse to run like hell while I carefully place the tip of my polearm (the top weapon in the Arms column in pic) to hit the target as I run pass him.

If my horse is running while the target is moving at a relatively low speed or standing still, it's a one-shot kill or, in my case, just KO without killing. This is because my weapon is a Jousting Lance, which is blunted.

It's incredibly weak but I get more kill on it than I did during my stint on a Heavy Charger.


Check out the differences! This is the toughest horse in the game. With 61 Armour and 175 HP, it's practically tougher than me. You can compare its armour to mine and I have 51 HP.

The thing is that it's very slow. Most uphill angles would slow it to a trot, which means even if my lance is aimed at the head, the target would merely get a migraine after the battle. On the other hand, this horse is fantastic if you're into swinging swords and axes because this animal NEVER DIES!

Horses in this game get magically revived after each battle if they die. The catch is that if they too many times they get certain defects, like my previous 2 Coursers that became Lame Coursers after 2 deaths or so. Lame Coursers are slow and weak.

What a waste. Spirited Coursers are easy to find but Champion Coursers are extremely rare and expensive.


A decent compromise between toughness and speed would be this, the Hunter. It's got slightly more armour and slightly less speed. Safer to go with this horse but just not as exhilarating as rider a Courser.

Yep, I keep 3 horses as backup in case I run out of horses while I have enemies to chase. There's a Spirited Courser in my inventory that isn't shown in these pics.













Do fish have hands? Yes they do! Only in Australia though.

http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/technology/7274602/new-handfish-species-walk-on-by/


Someday when we see mermaids, evolution will be proven beyond a doubt. Just don't expect hot babes with fish tails. Looking at this picture, the real mermaid will probably be a fish with arms instead of just hands.













Just watch a few episodes of Mind Control which is about this guy named Derren Brown who goes around doing mind tricks with people. He's not psychic but he makes it appear as if others are psychic.

It's amazing how he can influence the subconscious minds of other people using various verbal and physical tools and create the illusion that complete strangers seem to be reading his mind.

I think he has gone one step beyond mind-reading. The show just proves how easily the human mind can be influenced.













What is the difference between the normal Martell XO cognac and the Martell Cordon Bleu XO cognac???

The former is more expensive but the latter has a classier name. WHY?

It took quite a bit of googling but I finally found the difference between the two.

Cordon Bleu uses a high percentage of brandy made from grapes from one certain area of Cognac, France, called the Borderies which is the smallest cru at 4160 hectares.

FYI cognac is brandy that's been distilled and further aged.

Normal Martell cognac, on the other hand, is made of brandy from four different areas.

This does NOT explain why Cordon Bleu is cheaper! In fact it would make more sense if it was more expensive.

I still don't get it.

My late father preferred the normal XO. According to my mum he said Cordon Bleu burnt more. But from the various online descriptions I'd say the main difference is that Cordon Bleu has a sharper flavour and shorter aftertaste.

NOTHING IS MAKING SENSE!!!

I'd taste them myself but we don't buy them often enough to waste any for my curiosity. We use the XO cognac as offerings for my late father during special occasions because it was his favourite drink.

Personally, after trying the normal XO that one time, all I can say was it tasted good. None of the nutty or caramel nonsense. Just good. Can't describe it more specifically.

Anyway my mum's friend bought Cordon Bleu and now she's understandably a bit upset. Worse is that she bought 2 bottles. Now we're going to make do with these for the next couple of years.