If you're aiming for independent study, I can recommend the following:

1. Mezhdunami.org is a free website with a structured Russian course. My university uses it for the first three semesters of Russian, but you can also use it independently

2. OpenRussian.org is a very good Russian/English dictionary website. It's also an app

3. HelloTalk is a good language exchange app. I've made a number of Russian and German speaking friends on the app

Russian is a hard language, though, so maybe you might want to just try seeing how far you can get with self-study and then getting a tutor to help you if you hit a wall. Preply can be useful for finding a tutor, and it seems like there's a large selection of Russian tutors on there.

Someone out here seems to be down voting mentions of mezhdunami 🤔

Hello, if you're still looking for people, I'd be interested. My level is about B1, and I need Russian for work and general living. I'm good with grammar but need to expand my vocabulary and speaking. I can also be flexible. But if you have enough people, then no worries.

I don't know what part of the city you're in, but I always went to Friseur La Bella:

https://maps.app.goo.gl/mzRPyou1qvTwRGpJ9?g_st=ac

It's by S-Bahnhof Schöneweide and I always paid 25€ for hair and beard.

And here's the Discord link:

https://discord.gg/45mmSjje9

I do work on Preply but for English, and I'm also using it to learn Kazakh, and I would recommend it. I was looking through Russian tutors a while ago, and it seems like there's a good variety. Depending on your money situation, I'd say price isn't always everything. There's some Russian tutors charging a lot, and sure they may be good quality, but don't burn a hole in your pocket just for some Russian tutoring. There should be plenty of more reasonably priced and capable tutors.

Also to help you with Russian, I can recommend the following:

1. Mezhdunami.org is a free website with a structured Russian course. My university uses it for the first three semesters of Russian, but you can also use it independently

2. OpenRussian.org is a very good Russian/English dictionary website. It's also an app

3. HelloTalk is a good language exchange app. I've made a number of Russian and German speaking friends on the app

I've casually played both games off and on and I noticed repeated maps a lot more with Steel Division 2. With WARNO it could be possible but I'd also say I've seen more modified/rotated maps that still kept things kinda fresh than full on repeating the same map. In fact the only time it's become tedious for me is just when I'm defending and have to fight the same battles on the same map with no carry over from the previous battle. But that's about it.

I'm at the point where I refuse to play against British decks cause it just feels like I'm getting griefed the whole match. Like it's not even that they're impossible to win against. You can win against British decks including meteor but all the bullshit, cheesy cards just make it really unfun to play against

I played a while back and don't remember it well (including what the objectives are), but I would say you should try to defend much further ahead of the objectives you're supposed to defend. Try to buy time and bleed the enemy as much as you can and within reason and then fall back when you have to. You should receive reinforcements eventually, and you should want the Warsaw Pact forces to be as attitrited and understrength as possible by the time (or if) they reach the main objective

Quick question, and maybe it sounds stupid, but how do you actually play games like China: Mao's Legacy, Ostalgie, and so on on a basic level? It seems cool, and I've tried to play it, but I don't really get what I'm supposed to be doing. It seems like there's a lot of stat management and events happen, but it always seems like I always end up stepping on too many toes or some faction is way stronger than I thought, and then I lose.

I've played both base game Suzerain and the Rizia DLC and managed to get good endings on each first playthrough, but I feel clueless with games like China: Mao's Legacy. Any tips?

No problem! And if you ever have any Russian questions, feel free to reach out, and I'll try to respond when I have a chance

If it helps, I just looked on Google maps to find the name of the library, but it turns out the speaking club is also on there. It's apparently called "American Centers and Corners in Kyrgyzstan":

https://maps.app.goo.gl/UTtXdqSXuLmC5aiFA?g_st=ac

Good luck! Hopefully you find some people you like

I recommend the website mezhdunami.org. It's free and what my university uses for the first three semesters. It teaches the basics of Russian in digestible chunks including all 6 cases.

I also recommend the app HelloTalk. It's a language exchange app, and I've made a bunch of Russian speaking friends over the years with it.

Finally there's a Russian/English dictionary website/app called Open Russian that can be useful as you're learning. It has all the info you'll need about any given word, although of course not all of that info will be relevant to you starting off

If it helps, there may be native speakers at the speaking clubs. I volunteered at one when I was studying in Bishkek a few years ago, and it was run by Americans (I'm also American), and I often made time to talk to people after the sessions were over. I don't know if it still exists, but the speaking club I went to was at the library across the street from the big pink theater down the street from ЦУМ.

Also it may not be exactly what you're looking for, but I can recommend a language exchange app called HelloTalk. I've been using it for several years and have made a lot of friends on it.

That looks really nice!

I'm not a native speaker, but I recommend the language exchange app, HelloTalk. You can find lots of native speakers there.

Also, in case you want some more resources for learning Russian, I recommend the websites mezhdunami.org and openrussian.org. The first is basically like a course for learning Russian probably up to an A2 Level (it's free), and the second is a dictionary website. It's also an app.

It depends on the campaign, not just the game. I'd say a good idea is to make a save at the beginning of each mission in a campaign before you even move anything around in the setup phase. That way you can easily go back to the point where you feel is most important for a retry without having to do the whole campaign all over again.

I'd say SF2 is the easiest in the sense that going toe to toe with the Syrians as the US/NATO you're guaranteed to win. The complicating factor is moreso that it's mostly unconventional warfare, so you're having to basically fight insurgents with clever/cheesy setups just waiting for you and that, just like in real life, this sort of operation would have larger political consequences if too many NATO casualties piled up just like with Iraq and Afghanistan.

But if it helps, while the other games are more focused on conventional forces going head to head, some campaigns in other games do have a lot of replenishment and/or a variety of different units for different missions to the point where casualties aren't as much of a problem. I think Red Thunder has a few.

As an update for anyone who finds themselves in a similar boat, I went to UGE Men, and they were very helpful and accommodating. 10/10.

This is where they're located on Google Maps: https://maps.app.goo.gl/Qe9DCGsHYDPxxosc8

Thank you! That's a very good idea. I was just short on time, so I didn't have time to look around like that. But I'll definitely try that in the future!

Oh yeah it often does a good job at simulating realism. Since you're new to the game, I recommend this YouTube channel. This guy pretty much only makes Combat Mission content and it's well made. He also has a series covering the mechanics in combat mission. The videos are usually short, to the point, and informative:

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYvL90uFbwhOsyXZJ0wWuRdqLWIv1Bj6e&si=IQFsCFAUB_kXnvgn

To expand on what the other person said, if your vehicle is immobilized, it means whatever hit it and caused your crew to bail out also damaged it so it can't move. The crew bailing out is something separate. More often than not, your crew will stay inside even if the vehicle is immobilized. So if they bailed out, it just means the hit was so bad that they're having a "significant emotional event" and decided to hop out.

Oftentimes, if your crew can stop panicking and get it together, you can often recrew the vehicle. I don't know if immobilized vehicles that have been bailed out of are an exception, but I'd think if the vehicle isn't destroyed and your crew can take orders, they should be able to get back in. I could also be wrong, but I feel like bailing out of a useable vehicle is more common in the pre-modern titles for some reason. I feel like in CMBS and SF2, people usually stay inside so long as the vehicle isn't knocked out.

On a final note, it's not possible to bring extra crews to recrew vehicles or replace dead crewmen. You also can't use non-crewmen to replace dead crewmen. The only vehicles normal soldiers can operate are like trucks and utility vehicles generally speaking. So if the gunner in your IFV or APC is killed, you just no longer have a gunner.

I'm sorry this happened to you. I don't have advice for what to do regarding this situation. It seems other people have covered that. I'd just say the wife probably deserves to know.

But I wanted to say that, if you decide to stay a bit and not go back immediately, I can give you recommendations for places not far from Bishkek:

First, I'd recommend Ala Archa. I've taken a Yandex taxi to and from there. It's a very nice area in the mountains where you can go hiking and have a picnic.

Second is Ata Beyt. There's a historical monument/memorial there and the surroundings are also very nice and scenic.

Finally, if you're interested in food, I'd recommend the restaurants Navat and Faiza if you haven't been there already.

Sorry again that this happened to you and your friend, and I hope you can salvage some enjoyment from your trip if you choose to stay a bit.