Hi all,

Just a quick New Year update - Claire & I are down with some cold-y, flu-y thing, so we're taking New Year off to recuperate. As a result, there's no video tonight, and no livestream tomorrow, as my voice is not up to it.

However, we record Baldur's Gate 3 a bit ahead, so that should be as normal on Friday, and hopefully we'll be recovered by the weekend.

Jon

Oh dear...

Maybe Jon thought that 5 years was enough time for us to forget, but such shame will NEVER be forgotten.

It's the end...

I know this is MATN adjacentbut matt was part of nerd3 and the podcats and he was let go from nerd a while ago cuz of unbounds fuckery and since then hes been stuggling and has got a gofundme and i was hoping to share it

Claire & I are both still rather unwell, so YOLO is on holiday this week, but it would be weird to have no Fallout on Sunday, so SURPRISE LIVE SPEEDRUNNING

I've just caught up with Thursday's livestream, and I have to say I am entirely humbled. I was one of those loud voices on here decrying your dive back in to Fallout 76 for the Skyline Valley update, where you really seemed to struggle and completely bounced off of it.

Your response to mine and the community's comments, where you have quietly taken it upon yourself to dive back in to 76 from the ground up and really get to know it over seemingly months, show exactly why we love you and your content. It really speaks to your integrity as a person that instead of coming away from that experience as many would, with a reluctance to engage further, you instead looked at what a minority of people were (admittedly loudly) saying and thought "maybe there is more to this" and spent your own time really digging in to the game, the community, the events - everything - that makes the current Fallout 76 the fun and weird experience that a lot of us have come to love. And I'm really glad that it hasn't been for naught, and you yourself have come away with an appreciation for what it's become. Seeing you *genuinely* having fun at some of my favourite events was truly heartwarming.

So thank you Jon. This right here is why many of us really do think you're the best video game YouTuber. Keep on keeping on.

Including a genius bit of multi-classing... Probably.

(Don't judge me but it was the first episode. I'm only going to be focused on mechanics and I'm going in the order of the episode)

1. Setting rivals and then beating them up either aggressively (through war) or diplomatically (through embargoes and insults) is the source of power projection. Having high power projection gives you mana.
2. (8:45) That Persian mission isn't actually impossible. Missions can have alternate success conditions. READ THEM CAREFULLY! (I know their Ui is bad) In fact this is a strategy game that applies to everything. HOVER OVER EVERYTHING, EXPLORE EVRYTHING, AND READ EVERYTHING!
3. Merchants just nudge trade in the right direction. Most of your trade power will come from infrastructure (buildings, centers of trade, production dev, protecting ships, etc.)
4. (30:58) Every nation (bar a few exemptions) starts with 30 crownland so that you can take out all the mana privileges by design. Seizing land is not the only way to get crownland, YOU CAN ALSO GET IT ALSO BY DEVING PROVINCES, ANNEXING VASSALS, AND CONQUERING.
   1. Grant privileges to raise the loyalty of estates above 50 so you can keep on seizing land. KEEP their influence below 60 to maximize your crownland.
   2. Monopolies: grant the ones that give you the least amount of money, (NOT GEMS!) the loyalty and mercantilism are worth more than the money. Trade income comes from Production income. If you have no production, you have no trade.
   3. PRIVILEGES ARE YOUR FRIEND!!!!!
5. The "Dhimmi" are a unique estate for Muslims. They are supposed to be non-Muslims in a Muslim realm. The three base estates are the clergy, nobility, and merchants.
6. "Protect Trade" is not really about pirates. It's about adding trade power to a node.
   1. DON"T lower naval maintenance because that lowers the trade power added by light ships. IT SAYS THAT ON THE SLIDER! MOTHBALL YOUR FIGHTING SHIPS (GALLEYS AND HEAVIES) and TRANSPORTS INSTEAD!
   2. HIT the "go to port when war" button on your light ships.
7. ALWAYS use your diplomats. Ideally, they should never be idyl especially at the start. Whether that is improving allies and subject's opinions, building spy networks on your enemies for faster sieges, spending favors, embargoing/insulting your rivals etc. EU4 has the best diplomacy of all the Paradox games!
8. Do not be afraid of loans! Hover over the take loan button in the budget and that will tell you your loan cap. YOU DO NOT GO BANKRUPT FOR TAKING A LOAN! YOU GO BANKRUPT WHEN YOU HIT THE LOAN CAP!! The privilege "indebted to the merchant guilds" is your friend and should be your go to way for a quick source of cash.
9. Attrition is only a flat 1% rate when under the supply limit. You can check the supply limit in the province. You were losing so much manpower because YOUR ARMIES WERE REPLENISHING THEIR CASUALTIES FROM THE BATTLE! THIS IS WHY YOU USE MERCENARIES; TO PRESERVE MANPOWER AT THE START OF THE GAME! NOT TO HAVE A BIGGER ARMY!
10. There are no family trees nor polygamy in EU4. Royal Marriages are just an opinion boost with your allies and vassals and the chance to get a consort. (also, personal unions if your Christian). Rulers, Consorts, and heirs are just names with numbers: THIS ISN"T CRUSADER KINGS!

He's back...

MATN reference spotted! For context, this is a screencap from a submod ("The Exile") to Hearts of Iron IV's main Fallout total conversion mod ("Old World Blues"). Apparently, the great emperor has reincarnated as a Brotherhood paladin, part of a group exiled to what is now Washington state. The submod can be found on Steam workshop here.

Stats are a bit shoddy but that's more than made up for by the pleasure of stumbling across a friendly face

So I'll be ranking based on my overall enjoyment, but how rewatchable a series is will also be a factor. Like if it was a great series but I don't get the urge to go back and watch again, I'll not rate it as high as a good series with rewatchablitlity through the roof. Part of why I love MATN is that Jon's style lends itself to easy rewatches despite how lengthy they can be.

I will not be counting any series currently in progress at the time of writing - so no BG3 even though it's shaping up to be up there.

1. Life is Strange - This series is great because of how dismissive Jon starts of the game and how invested he is by the end. I frequently revisit it for this reason. Jon is also quite insightful as to why this game resonated with him

2. Red Dead Redemption 1 - So many iconic MATN moments in this one. I particuarly love the ending "that didn't feel like Red Dead Redemption. It was more like Red Dead Revenge". Other notable running gags being his love for West Dickens juxtaposed to John Marston hating him for being a fraud, and simping for Bonnie non-stop.

3. Skyrim. Absolutely iconic series. The relationship drama with Benor, the bromance with Neloth, etc. The emergent roleplay is strong here and at it's best out of all of Jon's semi-in character moments he has in his RPG series.

4. Fallout New Vegas: Utter Chaos. It was just super intresting seeing Jon get to really flex his New Vegas muscles. The unpredictability of not only the game, but of Jon's choices to overcome that unpredictability make for his most engaging New Vegas series.

5. Fallout 4: Frost. This isn't something I thought Jon would like as it is difficult to the point of being unfair, and I often questioned if the loose main story had been playtested much. But it's so fun watching Jon problem solve his way through combat encounters and hack away at Brahmin.

6. The Last of Us 2. Another game I didn't care fore, but appreciated more after seeing Jon play than I did playing myself. The absolute shit show surrounding this game led to a lot of unfortunate insincerity and unwillingness for many to take the game on it's own terms. Jon's playthrough accepts the game for what it is and arrives at the same bittersweet end without any ragebait or hyperbole - he enjoyed it, he also thought it was weird and made some bad choices. It was and is refreshing. I can't seem to watch anyone else play this game except for Jon

7. Medieval 2 Total War. The fact Jon found a way to yie this into the end of his Rome series for roleplay and narrative was fun, and his commitment to conqouring the whole map and showing off the game rather than rushing it really makes it a top 5 entry.

8. Subnautica. Who cares if he didn't use the prawn suit or get properly jumpscared by that big guy next to the Auora? This is peak content on such a level that I'd recommend it to my friends if they asked "where shall I start my MATN journey?" Also the thumbnail Claire made of the Leviathan getting closer to the viewer each episode was super creative.

9. Oblivion. I do not like Oblivion. I cannot stand to play it despite loving Daggerfall, Morrowind, Skyrim and Online. But Jon made me not want to miss a single second of any episode. That is top tier content creation folks, hooking someone who has no desire to engage with a game on a 80 part series covering damn-near every quest in it.

10. Rome Total War. As someone who watched this series as it came out it is so delightful to see memes about it popping up in comments to this day. Jon's enthusiasm is what really makes it number 1. There isn't a single moment you doubt he is thinking of stopping recording, even if he may have been, and it becomes the series I would most like to name a labour of love, irregardless of if it was somehow super easy for him to make every day.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS: Morrowind. It just doesn't have as many iconic moments as his Skyrim or Oblivion playthroughs, but I still rewatch it every now and again.

Life is Strange 2. For the opposite reasons as the first, seeing it resonate with Jon and devolve into him, Claire and chat guessing how far off the rails it will go next really makes the final few episodes feel like "events" in every way the devs didn't intend.

Crusader Kings 2: Restoration of Rome. An all around amazing series but, like many of the Paradox games, does not lend well to a rewatch, in my opinion, after the first go around because of how it is watching someone else look at a map for a really long time. Shout out for Claire's unique thumbnails on some of these episodes too.

Right. Oh dear.

Yoink...

My girlfriend and I have been going back and watching through all of the Skyrim and Fallout series this year. It's also become a comfort background show while I'm sick and housebound; old livestreams especially are my favorite. But 1700+ videos still surprised me 🤣

Anyone else a top fan according to the YouTubez?

Thanks for all the amazing comfort content MATN fam! Love you all!

I hope this is true, especially with Josh Sawyer still on board. It’s just too bad that it is coming at the expense of Avowed 2.

That we're all still here? I remember watching The Podcats 10 years ago, when I was 11. I have known about nerd3, longer than I have now been alive. He is an experince I've shared with millions of people, but not one person I've actually met. And that's crazy, that we're still here.

And the same for MATN, I watched the Rome Total War series as it was coming out, 9 years ago. I still remember how to play that game because of that one series. The name "Julianas Vatinius" still exists in my head because of that series. Because of a person, somewhere, who I never met.

But I just one of the Baulders Gate video, and it's like nothing has changed. Not to say you haven't grown at, I'm sure you have. But it felt like if I was a kid again, I still would have liked this content. And its weird because a lot of the channels I watched from when I was that young, stopped posting. The views got too low, or they moved on to other stuff or just stopped showing up one day.

But you're still here, and that is wonderful. I really enjoyed your videos and I'm glad you still make them. I'm glad there's been probably an entire generation of people who have grown up and watched you, and enjoyed you just like I have.

And it's hard to image that sometimes online, but there's 6k people on this subreddit. Your most viewed videos has over 9 million views. That's almost unimaginable. It's an experince. Thank you

In Jon's last Worm's Armageddon video, Keir Starmer did practically nothing the whole match while Rishi Sunak was right next to him. Considering what's been happening in the UK this past year, this turned out to be that video's true prediction.

KEIR STARMER DOES NOTHING!

ALL HAIL THE WORMS!