I’ve been saying for over a year that a much easier, and less politically suicidal, way for Xi to beat the island chain defense is to take back the Vladivostok oblast. It was part of China not even 150 years ago, there is a significant percentage, possibly even a plurality, of Han descended people, and it’s not like Russia is gonna have the army to stop a special military operation, or any allies to get upset about it.
I’d rather it stayed 3.0/3.5 for NWN, but that’s just because that is my favorite system.
A party of level 40 characters is just about unstoppable.