Who are these Easterns you refer to? Fallen and Friends, or those that now control their lands?
"Easterners" refers to Mercs, FCC, TKoV, Fallen, HRE, GK... those 330ish people that I've been referring to for the last few days of our discussion.
If Fallen were attacked by UIF why would i want to stop the UIF. It doesn't make sense at all.
Because if you don't keep a check on their power, who the hell do you think they're coming after next? They only have one choice- Crusaders, the "Southerners" I've been referring to. They're twice your size. I've got experience fighting an enemy that admits being overwhelming larger than my own faction. It fucking sucks. That's why we're here. Let's not graze on worn out pastures. My points have been made ad nauseum as to why. Really, try breaking the discussion down as I do, and you'll find that you waste fewer words restating things we've already discussed.
Denying that this new reality in Strategus isn't so is part of the "intellectual dishonesty". We'll get into this later and I'll clarify what this means.
Numbers wise what heard from you own ToD was that many members of the Fallen clan were inactive and not taking part in strat at the beginning of our war, seems to me you didn't have the numbers for your lands. Now two clans occupy your lands who do have the numbers. All in all the removal of your influence over the area is beneficial for us in every way.
That's half-true. We had less than the 67 active members, just like you probably have less than 98. Of course, there was also varying degrees of support from HRE, FCC, TKoV, and GK. And you had Wolves, Occitan, Hospitallers, etc. I'm not sure what relevance this bears on the greater point of this regarding your foolish diplomatic choice that has doomed us both.
Anyway, afraid of a challenge i am not. I prefer to have the capabilities of launching a sustained attack upon an enemy with decent equipment than fighting in rags with stones and sticks. Force of numbers has a much greater impact earlier in the game, hence why your smaller alliance was crushed by our larger one. now we hold your lands and more, we are just as capable of resisting these fictitious UIF attacks as you are. If your analysis is correct if we hadn't taken your lands and chosen the easy option of beating you guys then we'd have less players than UIF and less land than you and UIF.
Uhm. You STILL have less players than the UIF. You STILL have less land than the UIF. I get tired of reminding you the word "Numbers". It doesn't matter if you had a thousand more fiefs to the East. You don't have the numbers/players, and one of two things will happen: (1) the UIF will attack, and you'll lose in a series of boring battles OR (2) both you and the UIF won't attack each other (historically accurate) and nothing will change and the game will continue to be boring.
This is Intellectual Dishonesty. It's not lying to me, or anyone else- it's saying one thing to get a result which you know isn't true. It's lying to yourself first, then to others, in order to get what you want- justification for a series of stupid political decisions. I don't believe for a second you're foolish enough to believe that suddenly, out of the blue, you'll have this new Production Capability (read: more players/numbers) that will give you a fighting chance against the UIF. Surely, you aren't that stupid. Where in the hell do you think they'll come from? You know- they won't. The numbers aren't there.
Nor do I think you believe the UIF will simply disband. Really? Is that why they're all cozy on the Strategus map? Is that why they always fight for each others' battles? Is that why they never fight for land, when we all know that they have the resources to have waged several wars by this point? You either DO or SHOULD realize this. Denying it to appease yourself and justify your actions after the fact is Intellectual Dishonesty.
I hope that you have a clear understanding of the term now.
I think you've taken a far to narrow approach to the subject, you do not know the integral working sof the faction relations you tlak about with supposed authority. The UIF is not a single entity that always works together for a single purpose. each faction within it has its own goals and ambitions, it may support one another to achieve this but since the removal of the Templar block in strat 1 the UIF has had no single goal, as such they have fragmented and powers have shifted.
Really? What proof of this can you offer?
I know nothing about the subjective intent of the UIF and its leaders-- in other words, I can't read their brains, or read their correspondence.
I do know something about the objective intent of the UIF and its leaders.
Let's say there's a little boy who pulls the chair out from under a mean old lady. That's all you know.
Did he do it on purpose, or was it a mistake?
Subjective intent is knowing what he was thinking at the time. Objective intent is considering the context.
Virtually everyone will agree- he did it on purpose. You don't know what he's thinking, but only an idiot would think this was merely circumstantial.
That is objective intent, and I repeat, the objective intent of the UIF and its leaders is plain enough to see. They've never fought against one another before, and there's absolutely no evidence that they will do so anytime soon.
I know by its actions and words revealed what's going on. Stop feeding me bullshit- I'm not hungry, and we're not stupid. The UIF is sitting on its territory in the West swelling its troops and gold. How do I know this?
Because I'm not dumb enough to think they're doing nothing. I can see battle rosters. I can look at the equipment being used. I can see how the various groups interact on the forums.
I also fail to see why it should be my responsibility to improve the game, i enjoy it as it is.
Really? Because this seems to be an issue you can't quite settle on. Almost NOBODY is satisfied with the game as-is. This is another, albeit minor, case of intellectual dishonesty.
My faction is currently doing well, we have many options for expansion and gain. why would i want to change the way things work.
See all of the above.
At the moment the ball is in your court you don't have to worry about managing fiefs or if your going to get attacked in strat. So go off and brainstorm some ideas rather than being so burthurt that things didn't go the way you think is best.
Doing so right now. Thanks for the advice.
My aim is not to impress you either, it is to defeat you. My aim has been reached, you are landless, me and my associates sit happily atop our piles of troops ready to move them as we wish.
See all of the above. You've won a Pyrrhic victory at best. Totally besides the point.
If you really want to find a solution to your perceived problems with strat your best of making a post under that premise, rather than one of condemning the actions of others. We simply use the system the devs have created. If you don't like it, talk to them.
I hope that they do read this, because I'm convinced that they'll realize something is terribly wrong with the game because leaders like you can't be trusted to make logical decisions.
I'd also like to discuss what you keep referring to as Intellectual Dishonesty, a term which I must admit I've come across rarely. I believe this means one of two things, all though please correct me. A.) I am lying, in the face of some overwhelming and condemning evidence that ultimately means that my points are whole heartily flawed and as such all things i say are to be disregarded. You however must clearly be speaking always a 100% accurate truth or you two should be disregarded. b.) In contrast to yourself i am attempting to deceive readers by putting forward elaborate and compelling evidence which has been selected subjectively to support my statements. While you of course put forward a completely neutral statements which hopes only to enlighten the innocent readers to the great injustice done towards your faction.
Most of this has been discussed above, but I'll hit a few points here. No, your points are not wholeheartedly flawed. You're logic is based on fiction, not fact- but much of what you say is opinion. You're entitled to disagree. I'm less appreciative of reworking "fact" to suit your argument.
I could have called you dishonest, possibility "A". I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt. I do not think you are lying, or I would have called you out immediately.
What I think is that you've convinced yourself of something that isn't true, probably without realizing it. If I thought you were lying, no words of mine will convince you otherwise.
I think it's simply a matter of not seeing the bigger picture of what is actually going on. You see the trees but miss the forest. I intend to induce a paradigm shift, a change in your perspective. But that's a choice you'll have to make, even my words cannot force you to consider another perspective if you so stubbornly cling to what you believe that just isn't so.
To redress these points i'd like to say that the forces tht attacked your faction were obviously overwhelming, we had greater number than you allies hence why we won. As i've stated before our two options were to attack the UIF, which would likely result in an early defeat. Or attack you, which would likely end in an early victory. If war is to come between UIF and us, holding your lands puts us in a much stronger position than if you held them.
The word "early" is an important one. I think you've got a spark of understanding, followed by an illogical train of thought that I've talked about before. An "early" victory over one opponent has condemned you to fight an enemy you have no hopes of defeating on your own.
This is what I referred to as the "balance of powers" earlier. I'll go over it one more time.
The UIF is still as strong and unified as ever. A few names have changed, communication lines shift, but there's just no convincing evidence to the contrary. If you refuse to accept this, there's nothing I can do for you. See the above.
When the Eastern independents existed, several hundred players were active in some great fighting and politics. They weren't working together, but it wasn't unforeseeable that they could resist the attack from the UIF, which is almost double their size in players, for a while. Furthermore, with the existence of your Crusader factions to the South, the UIF had a sizable enough threat to balance their growth.
Here's an algebraic description of this major balancing problem. Numbers are arbitrary, but approximately equal to the Potential-Active-Players provided by the new patch.
Let's call this
Phase One. This is one period of growth- gold and troops. I'm discounting the advantage gained by trading, which would inflate these numbers to be much larger for the UIF and Crusaders (for simplicity's sake- my point is made regardless). It looks something like this:
UIF: 550 --- Crusaders: 350 --- Eastern factions: 300
But the Eastern factions fought amongst one another. Small skirmishes, but it counted. Then the Fallen and her closest allies started fighting the Crusaders. Let's assume three periods of growth (Original growth + 3 x (original growth) = result), minus 25% for casualties amongst Eastern and Crusaders for the early stages of the conflict.
Phase Two:
UIF: 2200 --- Crusaders: (350 + 3(350)) x .75 = 1050 --- Eastern factions: (300 + 3(300)) x .75 = 900
Phase three, the major players of the Eastern faction are essentially gone. It costs just equal numbers of troops for Crusaders as it does for the Easterners, assuming 700 of the 900 Easterners resist the 1050 Crusaders. Lacking fiefs, Eastern growth is annihilated except for the few remaining factions (CHAOS, LLJK playing a bit role). Another three growth cycles have occurred.
UIF: 3850 --- Crusaders: 1050 - 1000 + 1050 = 1100 --- Eastern: 900 - 1000 + (no growth) = 350
Phase four. Another three growth cycles. The UIF initiates its first attacks against a tiny Merc faction and a diminished HRE. Neither are capable of a true resistance.The majority of Eastern powers have gone. The Crusaders are still recovering from their war against the East.
UIF: 3850 + 1650 = 5500 --- Crusaders: 2675 --- Eastern: Dwindling
Phase five.Do the math.
You can't outproduce them. It's literally impossible. You don't have the numbers -- they do.
Unless you can somehow recruit enough players to not only MATCH them, but outnumber them, you will never stand a chance.
Unless they break apart, which they haven't actually done in any apparent way since their founding in 2010.
Worse, because of trading, which my simple explanation doesn't factor in, you've made them even richer- because they have more numbers, they get richer at a faster rate than you do.
So.
I've exhausted every possible explanation at this point of why the decisions of the Crusader faction have been stupid.
You can deny the numbers and facts, but that won't change them. I encourage you to show me why the theory behind this formula is wrong (again, the numbers are merely symbolic of relative and approximate power).
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Side note to Gnjus:
Thank you! I do hope you enjoy what I've put up in this section. Search for "The Chronicle of the Brigade" for some of my creative writing.