Last Shelter: Players Guide - Main Account

Last Shelter: Player's Guide 

Main Account

 

  Last Shelter Guides:

• State Events
• Farm Accounts
• Event Schedule
• Dooms Day 

 

 Game Concepts

 

Your main base will need a source outside itself for resources.  Upgrading your base is easy up to level 15 then the cost of upgrades become ridiculously expensive in terms of money and resources.   They raise exponentially as you go up into the 20's.

Some players will purchase the extra resources while most will attack other players to gain extra resources in the first month of the state.   At first many people will start the game then get bored and leave.  This will leave abandoned bases through-out the state in various levels.    These accounts will eventually drop off the system for inactivity (2 weeks).

Most alliances will create a farm alliance under their protection and you will need farm accounts or a deep wallet.    Look at my post on creating farms. You need to create farms accounts in the first few months while there are other bases available for farming so they are ready when there's few bases available.  Most alliances will agree on some sort of Non-Aggression Pact (NAP) but this still leaves a lot of bases for farming.

Alliances

 

You should watch the rankings of the alliances in the state (Menu > Rankings > Alliance Power Ranking)  and what the NAP is.     Join a top alliance as soon as possible otherwise your base will probably be farmed by everyone on a daily basis.  It's good to develop friendship with other alliance members but it's more important to stay inside NAP so you can grow.

Once in the alliance, you should donate to alliance technology as often as possible.   However, don't throw all your diamonds at the donations.    If you have some extra then donate up to 10 times on each open alliance technology.     This will gain points you can redeem in the alliance store and alliance tech provides various boost.

Commander

The leader of the alliance.    They are responsible for mergers and make the final calls on rules and actions taken by the alliance.    They are usually the first point of contact for other alliances.  The burden of command is a terrible thing.    You must appear to always know the answer to problems (whether you do or not) and be fair to your members.    Your alliance members are the most important resource and you must demonstrate good leadership skills to gain the loyalty of your members.  Showing indecision or ignorance will not inspire leadership leading to your alliance having a quick turn over rate.

Guardian

This will usually be the strongest player in the alliance.   Their job is to protect the alliance from other alliances and players.   They are in charge of reinforcements and retaliations.

Recruiter

The job is the title.   This person should try to recruit new members and work on getting alliance mergers.  

Overseer

This person keeps alliance members in line with the rules of the alliance and state.   Often they handle all rank changes, announcements, and kicking of people for repeat violations.

Diplomat

This person handles all communications from other alliances.

Aditional R4

The remaining R4s assist the other appointed positions and serve as back up.

Micro Transactions 

 

This game is full of packages you can purchase.   Generally, the only packages that are worth buying are the Project Hero and Arms Supply.    Limit other purchases to small $5 or $10 packages and try to get them during state events if at all.   I recommend buying extra courage medals so you can finish the Zone Commemoration branch because the extra rewards gained will pay dividends during events.

Larger packages provide limited value compared to cost and will go quickly.

You can spend $800 for 100,000 diamonds and push a base from Level 3 up to Level 10 in a day.  You can achieve level 14 if you limit diamond use to complete upgrades when you have the resources for the upgrade.    Once above level 15, 100,000 diamonds won't be enough to complete one complete level of upgrades.   The purchases don't go far and that is why I don't recommend spending a large amount of money in the game unless you recently won the lottery.

Payers(Pay to Win)

 

This game is a pay to win.     Unfortunately, there is no amount of skill or strategy that will beat a player willing to swipe the card often.   It is nearly impossible to finish the zone com research or max heros without spending money.   It is even worse for the seasonal heros because the last 4 skills all require a duplicate medals.

In every state there are players (or payers) who will spend money to upgrade their base quickly and dominate the state.   Typically, these players will try to control the state since few can match their purchased might.    These plays spend thousands of dollars from $7,000 to $20,000 USD.    These accounts are a poor investment and are sold for less than $1000.

The game's rules and currency conversion is unfair.    The prices are based on the US dollar.  For example, If a currency is converted $1 to 7 Lira then people in Turkey will pay 40 Lira for something that cost $5 (4.50 UK Pound) in the USA.     However, the Yuan conversions are the opposite.    If something cost $5 then it will be 0.50 Yuan.      The game makes Chinese states (States for Mainline China players) that no one outside China can join or migrate to/from.    These become super states due to the artificially low prices and are matched against everyone else in events.   

 These states also get a head start of at least a minute on declaring in the Doomsday event.   This means you will have no choice if you are targeted by one of these super states.    These states also get cheats like being able to locate your base anywhere on the map even after using a random transport or dropping your shield.    The developers have denied the favoritism.   Many players have experienced these cheats and many people from these states have admitted to the abilities.

 

Building Upgrades

 

For bases below 10, concentrate on upgrading your base level and select Farmer class at level 7.    Keep your Research the first 7 technologies in the "Rapid Production" branch as soon as possible.    You can run rapid production on each resource plot each time it's upgraded.   This will give you a boost in resources.

Don't build anything you don't need. eg: Architecture building.  Buildings you don't need should be moved off grid (disconnected from the road) including the garages.     You can move buildings off that you aren't currently using like the training camps.    This way they don't consume electricity when you don't need them.

You should try to get to base 25 as soon as possible.   The event rewards increase with each base level and are best at level 25.

You must build:

Garrison (for 5 > 6)

Buildings that must match the base level:

3 > 4 - Windmill
5 > 6 - Bank
8 > 9 - Bunk
9 > 10 - Hospital
10 > 11 - Lumbermill
11 > 12 - Farm
12 > 13 - Lumbermill
13 > 14 - Shooting Range
14 > 15 - Bank
15 > 16 - Embassy
16 > 17 - Vehicle Factory/Garrison Hall
17 > 18 - Farm
18 > 19 - Power Plant
18 > 19 - Bank
19 > 21 - Water Filter

Unit Levels

Keep your Shooting Range and Vehicle factory up to your base level as you upgrade your base.    At certain levels a new unit is available, at these points you should upgrade all your units, resource structures, banks, and houses to your base level.

• Level 10
• Level 13
• Level 16
• Level 19
• Level 22

 

Raider and Other Class types

 

I prefer to change to Raider at level 10 once I have upgrades all my units.  You can wait till level 13 if you prefer.   Farmer class generate a high level of resources and excel at gathering, but they do not generate a lot of money.    You can generally sell off extra resources for money so it's possible to stay as a farmer as long as you wish.      The problem is the farmer is not effective at combat due to penalties, but it does have a high resource protection level meaning raider can't take all of your resources.

After the first launch center, you could pick the builder class because it helps base upgrades.   It's similar to the trader without the special building.

The other class type is trader that doesn't have a combat penalty and generates a lot of money.    They don't generate a large amount of resources, but the trader can exchange money and diamonds for resources in the trading post similar to the commercial hub.

Raiding other bases or your own farm accounts is the only way to consistently have enough resources to upgrade outside of purchasing resources with micro-transaction.   Unlike the other classes, you can always find another base or add another farm.

Due to competition for resources, you will need to transport your base away from your alliance hive to raid successfully if you are not using farms.   The best place to raid is to be near several low lever alliances.    Most bases lower than level 9 are not worth the trip.   Always scout the base before you attack to make sure they have at least a full load of resources.

The class APC as a raider is the only thing able to take cash from the target base.    The amount of case you can take is about 2.5% of the total capacity of your APC.   The amount of cash taken can be boosted by researching the Load Improvement (Class APC), Transport Improvement (Vehicle Training), and Carrying Capacity (Zone Commemoration).

The APC barracks should be kept to your base level to maximize the unit capacity.    The more units you can put in an APC the more the capacity of the APC.   Other raider important buildings are the trap building and garrison (available at level 15).   These buildings should also be kept up to your base level.  The raider gets bonus from the trap building that others don't get making them more powerful on the map.

Power

Your power is determined in the following order:

1. Technology
2. Heros
3. APC Parts
4. Unit Level
5. Buildings 

A base with superior technology an heros can defeat units 1 -2 levels above theirs.

Research

 

Technology is the most important thing in the game and you should never compromise researching technology for buildings or events.  Lower level units can defeat up to 2 tiers above with superior technology.  Save as many of your speed ups as possible for use on advancing your research but don't use them until a daily or state event.

Keep your institute building level with your base up until level 15.    The building provides a research boost at level 15 (Fast Research 75%).  The next boost doesn't come till level 20 so once the institute is at level 15 you won't need to worry about it until your base is at level 20.

Your research should focus on the following trees:

1. Base Development
2. Class APC
3. APC I
4. Vehicle Training
5. Shooter Training
6. Basic Military
7. Medical Advancements

Other important Technologies:

• Zone Commemoration -  This tree should be researched as much as possible once it becomes available.   This will boost your points during State Events.
• Rapid Production - Don't research past Paradigm Shift until you have completed the 7 branches. 
• Basic Combat - Don't research past Recycle Resources until after the 7 branches.

Technologies for State Events:

• Zone Commemoration
• Shooter Training 
• Fighter Training

Zone Commemoration (Zone Com) requires courage medals to do the research.   The only way to get courage medals is to kill zombies in the early game and events.    The prizes from the state events will provide the most medals you will need so it's important to get as many boxes as possible.    Zone Com will make it easier to achieve boxes.  You can also buy packages with courage medals.   If you plan to spend money in the game then these packages provide the most value for your money.

Heros

Heros are the second most important thing in the game.   You should keep the Hero Hall up to your base level because this gives better hero experience bonus.  The best heros are in this order:

1. Orange
2. Purple
3. Blue 
4. Green

Many of the heros provide some kind of economical value.  They can be station in most of the buildings and some provide boost like Nora's "Touch of Midas" which will provide a rapid production of food every 24 hours.     You should station as many hero as possible.

Unlock and upgrade skills as needed to complete daily task but keep most of your resources for hourly or state events.    Unlock and upgrade the skills for your hero APC as often as possible to increase your offensive and defensive abilities.   Additionally, all the purple and orange heros have an "Awakening" skill and your goal should be to unlock this skill as soon as possible. The awakening is the most difficult to unlock because it requires a medal of the same hero.

The military blue and green heros don't provide much value and should be split in order to exchange for wisdom medals.    Orange heros are the best and should never be exchanged for medals.  You should limit the number of blue and purple hero medals you exchange for wisdom medals because they are required to unlock skills of other hero.

First, concentrate on upgrading the first skill of each hero in your APC.   This skill increases the number of units on the row the hero is stationed.   This will boost your APC power quickly.

Arranging heros properly in your APC is the most important factor.  Pay close attention to the hero skills as some are specific to a type of unit.  eg: Shooters, vehicles, and fighters.     The second important skill attribute is the range.     The range is how farm they can attack which is calculated from their position in the APC forward.     A hero on the third row with a range of three will only be able to attack the first row of the enemy APC.

6 of the purple heros have a link ability which means they get additional bonus when in the same APC.   The best defensive configuration in your All Shooter APC is the "Gun for Hire: Selina", "Gonzalex: The Veteran", and "Bart the Professional".

There are many factors the heros control in your APC.   Keep in mind this is a general outline and not all heros have the same type of skills.    You should read each skill when considering configuration.  Skills can affect the APC and Row.    The skills can be specific as to impact your (Friendly) APC or the enemy APC.

APC parts affect all of the attributes which depends on the part level and the part types being applied. 

• Troop Load - The primary skills are the first and sixth skill.   (Your barracks level also contributes)  This is used to calculate the damage done and a higher count will delay the formation collapsing due to low moral.
• Might - This is the damage done by your APC.   The primary skills are 4, 6, and 7.   The war rooms impact this for APC with all the same type of units.  The trap house (Raider Class only) also affects this.
• Resistance - This is affects the damage taken by your APC.  The primary skills: 3, 6, and 7. The war rooms impact this for APC with all the same type of units.  The trap house (Raider Class only) also affects this.
• Tactical Might - This is the damage done by the hero skills. 
• Tactical Resistance - This is affects the damage taken from the enemy hero skills.   The Garrison hall affects this value.
• Hit Point (HP) - This is the amount of damage that can be taken by your APC.   Skills: 6 and 7
• Combat Speed -  This determines who gets the first attack.
• Marching Speed - This is how fast your APC travels in the world map.

APC Parts

You should produce parts specific for the purpose of the APC.    Ranger Parts for an all shooter APC, Phanton parts for an all vehicle APC, and Trail blazer parts for the APC while you are gathering.    

Work on upgrading your parts factory to at least level 5 when it's available at base level 16.   You need to work on upgrading the factory and research parts technology with the goal to max both as soon as possible.  

The quickest way to get orange and eventually gold parts without spending large amounts of money is to produce green "Common" materials (available by the part technology).    The method I use is to produce enough materials to make 16 blue parts.     This will require 16 green materials for each blue material needed to produce the target part.    Save all the materials and make the blue parts on the CoZ build event.    Finally, combine the completed parts from Blue to Purple to Orange.

It is quicker to complete 16 blue parts even though the resource cost is about the same for making 16 blue materials or 1 gold material.   You will end up spending more diamonds for speed ups to make gold materials.   

It takes 256 green materials to make one orange material and each green material cost 960 diamonds for an 8 hour speed up.   One blue part will cost 16 green materials and 700 diamonds (Finish Now) and about 800 energy cores.

I always work on getting orange parts for my APC before working toward getting gold.   You can use "Any Speed up" hourly events to hurry material production and buy extra materials from the commercial hub and exchange for energy fragments.

 

APCs

 

Typically, your class APC should be full of vehicles and APC I should be full of shooters.  The reason for this is vehicles are faster and are able to carry more resources.  This will increase as you research the Vehicle branch.  Use the class APC when gathering or raiding other bases.   APC I should stay inside your base at all times unless you are shielded.    This is to defend your base against raids.

Vehicles are weakest against shooters and most experienced players will use an APC full of vehicles to raid so an all shooter APC is the most logical choice.    APCs with the same type of unit will get bonuses at level 18 with the war rooms.

At base 18 you will get a fourth APC.      The exact configuration depends on your situation and your enemies.   You can fill the other APCs with a mix or specific types.   At this point, you can train enough troops to fill the 4th APC with different configurations so you can respond to different situations.

There is no reason to train vast amounts of troops over the capacity of your APC unless you want multiple configurations.  The general rule is have enough extra troops to replace the first row of your largest APC.    The more troops you train the more cost you will have to maintain those troops.  Don't worry about troop enhancements until you get to T7.

Fill your APCS with T1 vehicles when gathering.    The T1 apcs are weak in battle but they can carry more, gather faster, and are cheaper to produce than more advanced vehicles.   Remember to swap them for more advanced units when you're done gathering.

If you are going to participate in the battle for the launch center then you should fill one APC will all fighters.     Shooters are weakest against fighters and most experienced players will occupy the launch center with shooters.

 

Gathering Station

 

In the VIP shop (Level 2), you can get the gathering station.    This gives you a 5th APC used solely for gathering.    It's capacity is determined by the building level since it doesn't have units or heros.     You can equip it with Trail blazer parts which will increase it's capacity and gathering speed.

This APC can't be used in combat and will be recalled if you transport your base.

Last Shelter: Player's Guide - Farms

Farm Accounts

Last Shelter Guides:

• Main Accounts
• State Events
• Event Schedule
• Dooms Day

In any state, your main base will need a source outside itself for resources.  Some will purchase the extra resources while most will attack other players to gain resources in the first month of the state.

Many people will start the game then get bored and leave.  This will leave abandoned bases through-out the state in various levels.    These accounts will eventually drop off the system for inactivity (2 weeks for bases not in an alliance).   The drop off is a little longer if the base stays in an alliance.   After the first kill event there will be very few accounts for you to farm.

Farm Concept

A farm account is a base with the sole purpose of generating resources to be stolen by another account.

You can create as many farm accounts as you want.    Generally, you will need a minimum of 4 farms to grow one base up to about level 18.    Beyond 18, you will need at least 2 additional farms for each level you go up.   This should allow you to level a base every week.   You can use the game on emulators like Memu and BlueStack which allow you to run multiple accounts at once on your PC. 

The easiest method is to create a GMail account that is wordy.    ex: thisismyfarmemail@gmail.com     Google ignores periods and everything after a plus sign.     This allows you to create endless email accounts to bind to the account with one email address.

These accounts will all be delivered to the original email:

this.is.my.farm.email@gmail.com
thisis.my.farm.email@gmail.com
this.ismy.farm.email@gmail.com
this.is.my.farmemail@gmail.com
thisismyfarmemail+1@gmail.com

You should level up the farm base as quickly as possible and ignore any buildings not specifically needed for generating resources.    Some buildings are required to upgrade the base level and can be moved off grid later (moving the building so it's not connected to a road) .

All upgrades require the ration truck and one house to match the base level.     In addition, many building upgrades will require a specific population level which means you should keep the houses up to base level and the ration truck full.   I recommend upgrading all the banks as well since you will need money to keep the upgrade pace.


You must build:

Garrison (for 5 > 6)


Buildings that must match the base level:

3 > 4 - Windmill
5 > 6 - Bank
8 > 9 - Bunk
9 > 10 - Hospital
10 > 11 - Lumbermill
11 > 12 - Farm
12 > 13 - Lumbermill
13 > 14 - Shooting Range
14 > 15 - Bank

After you start the account, do the minimum builds and upgrades to get to base level 6 as quick as possible.  You will be able to choose a class when you finish the base upgrade to level 6.   After the first launch center battle you can select the builder class.  You will need to send an apc to the national quest for at least a couple days.  (The apc only needs one unit to be functional and can have all T1) You want to max out the "Lifting Devices1" in the class manual.   This will give you free upgrades up to level 7 for most buildings.    You can get a base leveled to Base 7 in about 2 days with about an hour of work.   Most of those two days will be waiting for national quests and for resources to accumulate.

Many people recommend using the farmer class for farms.     The only advantage is if you upgrade the production center to base level and log in every day to run the bountiful harvest.   The farmer is the best at gathering but it also has a high protection cap and doesn't generate money quickly.   The builder class reduces the resource needed for upgrades and provides free speed ups without the draw backs of the farmer.

You should keep the farms, lumbermill, oil well, refinery, and wind mill upgraded with your base level.    You can slide on some of the levels while pushing base upgrades but you will need to level everything to base level eventually.

It's not worth upgrading past level 15 on a farm in my opinion.    The cost of upgrades and maintenance are high and will reduce the amount of resources the base produces.   The time needed to finish the upgrades also  increases exponentially the higher you go.

Don't place more than one building each for the hospital, bunk, barrack, and power station.   Once you reach level 7, you can move most of the unneeded buildings off the grid.  This includes the garrison, barracks, fighter camp, garages, and radar.  The more you can move off grid the less electricity you will need.

Level 15

Switch your class to trader and build the trading post once you reach base level 15.  You can supplement your resources by trading at the commercial hub and trading post using money and water.   Most people rarely log into their farm account, but you will need to log in at least once every week or two so the system doesn't drop the account due to inactivity.

Make sure all the resource buildings (farms, lumbermill, oil well, refinery, and wind mill) and the Hero Hall match your base level.  You will also need to upgrade the institute to level 8 and fighter camp to level 2 to complete research trees.    You can place the warehouse II and 4th garage.

You can upgrade the warehouse II buildings so the farm can store more resources.   This is useful once the kill event starts and your farm stays shielded.  

Gathering

You can upgrade your barracks and produce units to fill them if you intend to gather.   Don't worry about producing any units outside of T1 vehicles because they are faster and carry more. Don't build any units until you reach base level 15.  Farm gathering is somewhat useful to bulk up on specific resources for your main account.     If you don't gather then move the barracks, bunk, and hospital off the grid. 

Personally, I don't find gathering in a farm account worth while.   The problem with gathering is you will need to spend a lot of resources upgrading barracks and producing units to be effective.  There will also be a lot of injured units every time your main base attacks which means you will also need to upgrade the hospitals.

You can get extra resources from the Commercial Hub, Trading Post, and Rapid Production without the hassle of keeping your APC's full.

Off Grid

You can also move the ration truck off the grid.    This will reduce the population of the base.  This will result in a cash generation penalty.  The population is only needed for upgrading and the money production penalty won't impact the farm since you won't be building anything.

It is important to make sure the farm has a constant supply of power. Resource generation gets a production penalty if the electricity falls to zero.  You can move enough buildings off grid so the windmill can supply all the power otherwise keep your power station going to supply extra power.

Research

The only research you will need in the beginning is the first 7 technologies in rapid production.   You can use rapid production to supplement your resources to keep the upgrades moving.

Once you are done with your upgrades, complete the "base development" technology branch since it increases your storage capacity and resource production speed.      If you intend to gather, then research the "Load Improvement" and "Gathering speed" on each of your APCs.    You can finish the "Rapid production" branch if you  intend to do the rapid production daily.

The other technologies won't provide much benefit for a farm.

Heros

You can place resource specific heros using the Station Management building.    There are several that will increase the production of certain resources.    This includes Pioneer: Nora, Lt. Joshua, The Sheriff: Gilbert, Resisteance Leader: Tony, Carpentar: Tony, The alchemist, and Accountant: Taylor.    You will have to upgrade the station management building to station heros.    In addition, most of them will need the skills unlocked and upgraded to provide any benefit.
 

State Events

The farm can easily participate in the hero development event. You can split all unused heros, especially combat heros, then use the medals for upgrading stationed hero skills.  

You can use extra wisdom medals and split heros to max your score on Hero Development day.  Remember, you only get 80% of your resources (Money/Wisdom Medals) back from a split hero.   You can use this event to get diamonds for transports and shields.   You need about 700 wisdom medals to get third event box with splitting green heros.

I only recommend doing this on your farms because the lost hero medals are not worth the diamonds in your main. 

Here's a video on how to do the hero split and maximize your prizes:

Use the Farm

Uncheck all the APCs in the garrison so you don't lose units when you hit the farm with your main account.   However, attacks on the farm still puts units in the hospital.    I recommend attacking your farm to get resources and not simply try to trade.   Most alliances set up a separate alliance for farms which means you can't trade anyway.  I wouldn't bother trading since it requires you to upgrade the trading post and you will lose resources to the tax rate.

Fill your attacking APC with T1 vehicles when you attack the farm.   Your heros and technology should compensate for the units being the same level.   You will be able to carry more and do less damage to the farm's durability.

Forest Meet Trees

Reintroduction

The initial idea behind this blog was so I could give the world my personal philosophy (IE: whine on the internet).   For a while, I didn't have time to make post so I started using this blog for research.    I would post about a single topic that I have researched usually the result of some argument on Facebook.      I will try to post more often but don't hold your breath.

Down the rabbit hole

This was mainly at the point when I really started identifying as an atheist.  I hung out in atheist groups and read atheist books.   I got into arguments online which are all pretty normal for most atheist at the start.     The problems there started when I began reading more books about related topics and learned what logical fallacies are.   I love Christopher Hitchens.  The more I learned about how and why he argued the more my way of thinking changed.

I started to notice the people around me were often to the extreme left politically.     In fact, the atheist movement was like being in a radical feminist Marxist rally.       Obviously, I didn't stick around long.    

The extreme left made holding conferences impossible and their groups don't tolerate descent.  Lately, I rarely discuss religion unless someone preaches their way into annoying me.  

In the Forest

What generally made me get back into the blog this time was reading something from a friend.    Of course, this person believes they are special since he has "converted" an atheist back to Christianity.    I guess I'm thankful he hasn't approached me yet with the idea of conversion.     I probably know more about the bible than he does.   I've probably been in more of these arguments than he has and I'm certain it will end up in one direction.    Essentially, he will try to convince me that his personal opinion is proof of a god.    I will deny it and punch enough holes in his assertions that it will end in the "agree to disagree" land.   What a waste of time.   He doesn't have the proof I need to believe and he doesn't need proof to believe.

His comment was that he was upset that some members of congress have been allowed to use the Koran to swear in on.       His problem what that it was the wrong religion and should be banned because obviously all Christians think the same way.  (his way)     Nevermind, this would be impossible as our bill of rights prevents it.      Of course, it isn't truly about Muslims.    He would oppose Mormons, Jehovah Witnesses, and Catholics just as much.

However, I think he misses the point here.     The religion of these senators isn't the problem.    It's the political beliefs which are from the extreme progressive left.   I recognize that Muslims have been responsible for some of the worst events in modern history in the name of their beliefs.      I think all religions are equally toxic.      In modern times, all religions have had some horrible events that were only made possible by their beliefs.    Christians had people like Jim Jones and David Koresh.    There is a major difference even though you can find more examples from Muslims

The extreme sects of Muslims are often sponsored by rouge states to do their dirty work.     The pour money into the religions which goes into attacks and teaching to get more followers.      Think of the Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Iran.    All three of these countries find extremist to further their causes.

Can you imagine what David Koresh or Jim Jones could have done if the United States had funded them instead of trying to stop them?      They would have been an unstoppable force that could have created havoc with Mexico and many others.    

Reponse to Blog post of Strom

Original Blog post is located here.

This article is flawed to the point of absurdity. Roosh is a "pick up artist" which has nothing to do with the liberties of either gender.  This is a fact that Roosh himself has said repeatedly despite feminist trying to throw him in with the men's rights crowd.  I don't think Roosh is even representative of the "pick up artist" as some focus on training men how to talk to women.    It's inaccurate to say that all push an "asshole" approach to women.    Roosh is merely interested in getting sex thus I will exclude anything responding to his philosophy. 

 

I would also not include "men going their own way" as a men's rights group.   These men are often those who reject the notion of relationships and marriage for various reasons.      Some of them are also in the men's rights camps but that is not to say all of them.  Many of them maybe victims of a bias system but there is also nothing wrong with people who choose to remain single regardless of their reasons.

It is also inaccurate to draw a distinction of modern and old feminism. Feminism has never been about equal rights which is clearly outlined in the "declaration of sentiments".   You only have to read the writings of prominent feminist from the 60's to see this has changed very little.    I have never heard of a single instance where feminist have fought for equality. I have yet to meet a single feminist who doesn't claim some form of patriarchy theory to explain things which even the author used to a lesser extent by claiming men were taught they were superior to women.   I would grant that some feminist are about equality such as Christina Hoff Summers but they are by far the minority of the group.

The claims on sexual assault are completely wrong. It's impossible to say which gender suffers more sexual violence and irrelevant. Are we going to say because men are the majority of murders and assaults that society oppresses men?    Clearly not.    The main reason a comparison of sexual violence is impossible is that until 2012 male victims were recorded as "aggravated assault" due to the definition used by the FBI. This means the rape statistics prior to 2012 completely ignore male victims and female perpetrators. The definition since then has improved but it still completely ignores any victims of female crimes including men and other females. The best information currently available was a survey funded by the CDC which shows nearly equal victimization of the genders if you assume "made to penetrate" is a synonym for rape.   The consultant on this survey, Mary Koss, even said that she used a different classification because men secretly wanted the sex even if they were unaware of it.    This type of thinking has even been used to justify charging child support to a male victim of rape in several states.

The second claim of sex trafficking is also wrong. What little research that has been done shows that boys are more often the target of sex trafficking but receive little help from society. In addition, boys are also trafficked for other purposes like slave labor. I guess one could argue that labor slavery is better than sex slavery but I doubt victims would agree.

 

The short comment on GamerGate is completely wrong as well.    GamerGate was a consumer revolt against corruption in the game journalism.     The movement has had a profound impact on journalism in most game magazines now include ethic clauses to disclose conflicts of interest.    Anita and her ideology are irrelevant to the cause.

I applaud the author's recognition of custody issues as well as domestic violence. However, I would note that the claim that child abuse has gender parity is incorrect. The overwhelming amount of child abuse is done by the mother most often toward the male until puberty.

 

While we are talking about crimes, I would point out the sentencing gaps where women convicted of crimes are given a significant light sentence compared to men.     There have even been feminist calls to abolish female prisons altogether.

The characterization of Karen's arguments for the draft missed the point entirely. The argument is a rebuttal of the inaccurate claim that women couldn't vote but men could. The fact is that the draft was (and still is) a requirement for every male in order to vote (among other things). Women have never been subject to this requirement regardless of how just it is. The idea is that if men and women should be equal under the law then they should have the same rights and responsibilities. 

 

I agree that women are generally not as physically strong as men but that doesn't mean there are no roles in combat for them.      Currently in the military, women are often given different physical standards and generally are not in positions that require extreme physical ability.

I am glad to see the author called out the pay gap myth.   However, they replaced it with a call for some sort of communism.      Female dominated professions are not paid less because they job is somehow valued less.      These jobs are generally not as difficult or dangerous as male dominated areas.   I don't see how paying a librarian the same as a miner is justice.      Women have the choice to participate in any job.   To achieve parity on the pay scale then women will simply have to do the same jobs with the same amount of effort.   I agree with the author that women are over taking men in a lot of areas.      In fact, women are now the strong majority in college and have been for many years.    I find it odd that when women were only a few percentage behind in college it was considered an emergency and now that women lead by nearly 20% "we need to do more".

It's funny how the article never mentions anything wrong with what Paul Elam has said and only a minor disagreement with Karen which is completely inaccurate..

Why is feminism not about equality?

Why is feminism not about equality?

First, imagine you get paid to eat a handful of candy from a bowl every month and 90% of those candies are poison.   You may not die from eating a single poisoned candy but it will at least reduce your lifespan by 10%.    Sound good so far?

You aren't allowed to refuse them.    If you don't eat them the government will throw you in jail or execute you.    

Now, imagine your neighbor is getting paid the same amount of money you get, but they don't have to eat any candy.   

Is that equality?

Why online dating fails

I have used online dating sites and even run one for a while.  It seems everyone has bad experiences.  Why do so many people have bad luck with online dating sites?  The answer is simple.

Male Perspective

On average, for every 50 messages sent there's only one response.  The received responses are almost always from a model with an invitation to view their web cam or another site.  On a rare occasion, a female profile initiates communication which almost always an automated system or baiting.  (Baiting is trying to lure someone to another website with the promise of something.)  

Female Perspective

The ladies are flooded with messages containing penis pictures or one line messages with cheesy pick-up lines.  On average for her, every 50 messages received contains one response from someone reasonable.

Failure

The problem is on three fronts.   First, the site only cares about collecting fees and not making connections between people.  Many sites create fake profiles using pictures of models and change the location information on deleted accounts.   

Second, most good men will leave after a short period due to the lack of any real profiles and the expense of the site.  This leaves only the most aggressive males who have nothing better to do than send out 500 dick pictures and corny one-liners to random profiles per day. 

Third, most good women will leave after a short time due to receiving so many emails from jerks.  This leaves only the females who are there for some commercial interest such as web cams or pushing a different web site.

These three issues create an environment hostile to the normal people who come to the web site.   The business has no incentive to correct the problems while the money continues to roll in.

Ideologues

ideologues: (noun) An adherent of an ideology, especially one who is uncompromising and dogmatic.

I've had discussions on a wide range of topics and the only thing common is humans seem incredibly prone to the mindset of an ideologue.  Unfortunately, this is true in the current age of information where data is available to everyone.  It seems people are satisfied to repeat whatever their social group says and resist anything that contradicts those assertions.  I've lamented on this topic in several posts before. (See: Atheist and Beliefs, A political party)   I just didn't realize how deep this problem goes.

Solar Panel

Most people think that religion is the only dogmatic form of thought, but I've talked with people who became hostile when presented with facts about solar panels.   They couldn't handle that solar panels aren't economically feasible on a massive scale mainly due to a lack of technology for industrial power storage and the availability of the sun varies.  I argued that solar panels aren't the answer to getting off fossil fuels for reasons I've written in two articles. (See: Solar Myths. . .Again, Solar Mecca)  Why should facts be so offensive?    It's fine if you want to waste money putting panels on your home, but don't pretend that they are the solution to the energy problem.

Cannabis

Recently, I was talking with some people about cannabis.  They claimed that it should be legalized due to a wide range of benefits from smoking cannabis like curing cancer, multiple sclerosis, and HIV.  Sounds too good to be true?  They obviously had never researched the topic because when I asked for the basis of their claim they posted five links to news stories.  The titles appeared to support their claims, but they obviously didn't read the study referenced in the news story.  None of the studies supported their claims.  In this case, several of the links referenced studies that were against their position.  When I pointed this out, they tried to rationalize how I was still wrong.  All they had to do was read their own links.  They should have the courage to admit they wanted it to be legal because they liked getting high.  Honestly, I don't care if it is legal or not.  It wouldn't affect me either way because I wouldn't smoke it regardless of it's legal standing.   What I am against is unsupported claims especially claims that could cause harm to people like cannabis cures cancer and HIV.    There are some benefits in certain cases, but all of those benefits are available in synthetic pill form which makes the legalization of pot irrelevant.

Gun Control

Another common hot topic is that of gun control.  I have posted three separate times on this topic. (See: My opinion on guns, Propaganda on guns in Australia, and Assault Weapons Ban)  There are many books on the subject.   The most well known books are by John Lott titled "More Guns, Less crime" and "The bias against guns".  John Lott's work has been replicated over 25 times in peer reviewed literature.  It has never been refuted despite some unsourced claims by political websites.  I have never encountered a logical or reasoned argument against the private ownership of guns.

In fact, all my discussion on guns go like this:

1. Owning buckets is legal 
2. Putting water in your buckets is legal
3. Sometimes people leave buckets full of water unsecured
4. Some children drown in these buckets
5. I support #1 and #2
6. I hate children

In this example, I would support a ban on owning buckets if someone could show that banning buckets would save lives.    However, their proof goes like this.

1. Country A has fewer Children downing in buckets than Country B
2. Country A has low bucket ownership compared to Country B
3. #1 must be the result of #2

This is a correlation equals causation argument and conflicts with the evidence we have available.  They ignore all the other types of drowning which could be a sign of neglect on the part of the bucket owner or the parent.   They are ignorant of the history of the laws toward buckets in country A.  It's possible they never owned a large amount of buckets or even had the right to do so.

The crime rates have been falling for decades despite gun ownership going up and the increasingly common CCW permits.    This simple look at crime statistics shows that the mere availability of guns doesn't increase crimes.   Otherwise, we should expect more crime as more guns are owned.

Religion

The oldest of dogmas is religion.   I have never written much outside of a few debates because there are many books covering this topic.  The bluntest of these books is "God is not Great" by the late Christopher Hitchens.  I think the strongest argument against Christianity is covered in books by Bart Ehrman which addresses the bible from historical perspective.   Of course, another of my favorite authors on this topic is John W. Loftus.     The best argument I've seen against religion was made by Mr. Loftus as quoted below.

"Let's consider the kind of evidence believers point to for us to believe.  Philosophical arguments don't count as evidence.  They are mostly special pleading since they don't lead to any specific religious sect.  What's left?  There is no empirical evidence since we weren't there to witness the resurrection for ourselves.  There is no first hand eyewitness testimony.  The textual evidence comes from the 4th century.  There is no prophetic evidence of a resurrected Messiah, while all the so-called OT prophecies are either not predictions at all or misapplied by the NT writers. And I'm supposed to accept Christianity? Really? Seriously?  When I say there isn't sufficient evidence to believe I mean just that.  It doesn't matter if the earliest disciples had sufficient evidence to believe.  We don't know that they did.  All we have is the so-called evidence above. The kicker is that the Jews of that day did not believe this so-called evidence, nearly 8 million of them, even though they believed in God, his ability to do miracles, OT prophecy, and were there. So tell me once again why any reasonable person should believe? It simply does not add up."

-John W. Loftus

Feminism

The most controversial topic I have researched by far is that of feminism.  I started from a neutral position and researched the claims made by feminist.  What I found was the worst dogmatic beliefs resistant to the slightest glimmer of light from logic and evidence.  I have never experienced more hatred than when I questioned the feminist position.   Apparently, I am supposed to merely accept it without question even when their ideas are toxic.

Feminist are the most violent ideologues I have every seen.  When Erin Pizzey challenged common (feminist) beliefs about domestic violence she was threatened and her dog was killed.   This violence is still seen today in their protest against any ideas threatening their dogma. 

The conclusion I have come too is feminism only cares about women and female supremacy.  Feminist often quote statistics that ignore men and assert that men are responsible for the women.  I have addressed the feminist narrative in a series of articles starting with What feminist don't want you to know: Introduction.

In the end

Maybe it's just the agenda they are pushing?  The politics they subscribe too?  They already have the answers and look for facts to support it while ignoring anything that doesn't agree.  This is nothing more than confirmation bias.  Now, I understand how creationist can think they are right.  They are no worse than a self proclaimed skeptic who comes to the right conclusion for the wrong reasons.

My discussion usually follow the same pattern which is why I stopped trying to reason with these people.  They never provide sources for the basis of the opinion.  When asked, they do a quick Google search for relevant titles.   The links they post are normally news stories to politically leaning sites supporting their conclusion.  (The right is usually to Fox and the Left is to HuffPost) The have titles supporting their assertion, but sometimes the content contradicts their basis.   I end up wasting my time reading their links and pointing out the problems I find.   They are never willing to discuss the issues with their links.  They rationalize their position followed by name calling or switching the burden of proof to me by claiming they are right until I disprove their theory.

What evidence can you provide to someone who denies all evidence?  The answer is you don't.    You will never convince someone with dogmatic beliefs and it is best to simply avoid them.   At most, you may convince someone who is already sitting on the fence from their doubts.  No one can ever be reasoned or debated from a position they hold as absolute truth.  Debates are good to reach people who are undecided and attended the debate to gain additional information.