I feel like the objective of Strategus isn't to wipe a clan in a war of total annihilation, but to provide entertainment to the bored nerds of the community with primetime battle slots so we can pump more ironflesh into our powerleveled sperg 2handed hero characters. Kudos to actually getting in on some action, but I gotta scoff at people going "WHERE IS OUR HELP???" when SS/LCO (especially LCO) spent months fighting for survival against extremely stacked odds while getting frustrated/burnt out with the game (strat is a bitch after all) and other clans who coulda been chill bros didn't even lift a finger to get involved.
Tickets + Gold = XP + Fun. Don't worry too much about the Grand Strategy of it all, I think everyone who plays Strat just wants to keep a fun little sandbox to attack shit on interesting maps and get some XP and fun for all of their bored clanmates.
I spent most of this Strat giving FCC shit mostly for propaganda purposes, but at the very least give those guys some credit for having videogame ambition and organization. They are reliable allies and formidable enemies, but at least this strat (much like Strat 2) they have been super active.
I feel the same way about LCO and Veluca as well. Cheers to the pro clans who've made this strat hilarious and interesting!
I feel much the same way, but got caught up in the apathy of the wars we had at hand. Favor neither side? Wind up not fighting at all. We tried to seek out unfettered factions that could make for an interesting small war on their own against us, but pickings were slim, and sometimes it's better just to pit yourself against someone you know you won't be able stand up to for long. I've never approached the game from the perspective of trying to "win" any war I wanted to be a part of, either, and if you're only piggybacking on someone else's fight it can be tiresome. If you only lose it can be bad, too, of course. Throwing tickets to the wind for any old attack is not as much fun as it sounds. We've made some hackneyed attacks against random targets during this recent war, and using tickets that way is not a good course for long-term fun. It doesn't lead to a sustained war effort, at least one that isn't totally one-sided. Ideally people go back and forth with attacks and defense, but when the obstacle you're trying to approach is a self-replenishing brick wall, your little rock hammer can only dig in so far. Not to disparage a well-planned defense, but if we can't successfully make an attack without getting shut down in every way possible, we have to stop trying to do so (whether we run out of tickets, lose interest, or get cut off by more active players). We still have yet to put forth a coordinated offensive for this war, but at this point it looks like we might have squandered our opportunity for that.
Scoff if you want, but we're not here begging for help. I wouldn't have had us attack that FCC trader if I wasn't ready to face the likely possibility of getting wiped off the map. We're a faction that has survived being taken off the map before (twice in one strat, mind you), I'm not going to become melodramatic about the outcome of events as a whole when they didn't favor us. It's the details and attitudes that are more fun to nitpick. ;)
Nice try Canary but two of those fiefs we recently sold are ones we have owned for almost the entirety of strat, as for the other.. if we actually thought for a second you or fidl would have attacked it, we would have kept it and killed any armies you sent. We still own chide because we thought you guys might take a swing at it (you havent) and it is a useful staging point. oh and for the fief we sold to HoC... 1. we dot think you would counter attack it, 2. im pretty sure we are planning on taking all of your fiefs and are fairly confident that we can prevent you launching any big attacks now and 3. we were able to get more troops to send against you in a useful location.
as for the "this is their MO in every strat" uhhh no. in strat 2 we were up against a wall the whole time and managed to gain support of other clans by promising them land in the future, so we owed lots of land and made good on our promises as best we could. in strat 3 we didnt really do anything. so yeah, im not seeing any examples of what you described.
I should have phrased it to be more accurate, yes. Your M.O. has been getting the support of numerous small clans by putting them into a situation where they feel as though they have no choice but to be your ally, even when it isn't made official. Granted, giving people things is great, encouraging small clans to exist is wonderful, and you're doing well to make the map more diverse (in color, at least; they are still your friends after all), but you have historically bunched up any small clan you could get your hands on in order to stack the odds in your favor. Here's a tangential point of fact: people such as RoR and AoW who will sign up for our rosters and then leave
in the last three minutes before a battle begins and appear on the other side. The rumor I hear is that Kesh will urge people signed up on our side to switch teams. Bad on us for assuming (particularly with the AoWs, being in your faction now and all) that people just wanted in on the fight anyway they could get it and that nobody was actively griefing us.
But I digress... Strat 2 was when you grouped up as many people as possible to take on the Northern Empire. I suppose they were the biggest threat at the time, and nobody realized how much we would wind up overestimating them... but you were certainly not against a wall once that NAP with the Mercs went through, and you gathered so many clans together because of a perceived threat. A perceived threat to rally people to your cause based on
promises of land? That is not better than the allegation I made earlier.
Gonna point this out:
2. im pretty sure we are planning on taking all of your fiefs and are fairly confident that we can prevent you launching any big attacks now
...
if we actually thought for a second you or fidl would have attacked it, we would have kept it and killed any armies you sent.
You are here making a self-fulfilling prophecy. Instead of encouraging us to fight you in the war you're just being as greedy (philanthropy to other clans aside) about your conquests as you can be, and discouraging us from actively playing anything but defense. It is ironic considering Kesh's vitriol against us for "doing nothing" and sitting stagnant turtling in our fiefs. If you allow no opportunity for attacks, attacks won't be made. If you don't allow transfers out of a fief, gear bugs will render battles shit (blah blah Kesh "we deserve all that gear and gold so transfers are bullshit, attack on the tick"). You guys really know how to kill fun for the people you fight, even if you do generously provide them with war (and other clans with their stuff once you win).
I'm not asking you to fight wars less efficiently, but I am pointing out that the way you assist other clans is not free from the whole of your strategy of stacking the odds in your favor and preventing retaliation of any kind against you. Furthermore, if you
did leave room for us to go on the offensive, it could actually benefit you. No fun allowed, I guess.
So you are saying it is better to keep all the fiefs we conquer, form a giant red blob and try to wipe every color other than ours off the map - and that is the less evil or shady tactic? Less diabolic than allowing other clans to have fun on the map as well? Better for the overall experience of the game?
I find this to be pretty cruel and a petty state of mind towards smaller and new factions. Consider if your own faction would be wiped from the map; would you not prefer to get a chance for a fresh start?
My faction
has been wiped off the map before, and when it happened we didn't beseech anyone to give us a fief (particularly not one taken from someone else in a war) or even sell us one.
It is different with newer clans, though, and quite frankly I would be even more upset with this kind of behavior if we
did have the means to retake everything we lost. Imagine, installing a smaller clan in a fief just taken from a large aggressive faction in an attempt to keep it from being attacked and taken back when the faction gives no fucks and wants it back at all costs? That would be horrid.
Overall, in response to this and what Matey's talking, what I am saying is that I'd rather you give us a chance to at least try and make a move so that the area sees more battles at these fiefs. (what will this be, one non-peasant battle at Yalibe the entire strat and as of tomorrow two at Emirin?) At least wait until we
are completely wiped out to sell off the fiefs you won from us. That's asking a lot, though, and I know we already blew our better opportunities for offenses, and misused some tickets when we attacked some of the fiefs FCC already owned. It seems like everyone underestimates our willingness to fight back; what about those aforementioned ridiculous attacks we made before seemed to indicate we
wouldn't make stupid attacks against stuff we lost? You have an opportunity to defend in fun battles, here, and make us look even more pathetic.
But I understand, in fairness of the game, maybe we should return fiefs to our enemies after we capture them? Would that satisfy? Or should we add troops and gear as gifts as well?
We only want to be loved, but you make it so hard for us. Fuck it, time to turn shit red.
At least wait until we're dead to give out the inheritance.
Any small faction "given" a fief is of no merit anyway. You either buy it or take it. To be gifted another man's fief is to submit to being eternal vassals or eventually branded traitors. A true lose-lose situation.
Wasn't Kesh giving Occitan, Chaos, maybe as far back as KUTT and possibly others shit because of the fiefs they didn't "earn"? (because of having gotten them via start-of-round voting, EU resources, or being given war conquests or whatever...) I seem to recall something like that.
We sold all these fiefs so we are good guys and they are all good guys in your book. Thanks jesus.
Oh, I see, it's different because they paid for them in cash gold.
