I will keep this short.
We all remember those realms that were once full of multis and OOC gangs. Aurvandil, Avamar, Fontan. The cheaters in those realms used their superior co-ordination and tactics to fight against all odds, defeating or holding out against realms much larger than themselves. They were known for their warmongering.
Ordinary realms are not known for their warmongering. Realms that warmonger are selected against because they are often gang banged to death. Only realms with supernatural powers such as cheating realms can withstand gang bangs.
Perhaps cheating realms are actually good for the game, as they cause lots of wars and withstand gang bangs, allowing hedgemonies to be shaken and fun to be had.
I've personally played against all three of those cheating realms I mentioned, and even though they had unfair advantages I think they were good for the game, both from a narrative standpoint (Avamar the city state holding out against the Sirion empire and its numerous allies was a romantic scenario) and from a gameplay standpoint, as they increased the amount of warfare and made wars less predictable. Imagine how quickly Oligarch, Rancagua and Perdan would have folded to Coimbra, Fontan, Old Rancagua, Sirion and those two Southern states had it not been for Avamar cheating and giving them an extra ten thousand CS, or whatever.
In my experience cheaters have actually made the game a lot more fun.
