The Current War

[Sypher]

My two characters are in Eston & Minas Ithil. The Eston front has been mostly a staring match across the western front with maybe one battle every month or so? In Minas Ithil, it until recently has been try to refit faster than Tara and friends and go fight in the Hammarsett/Coria area (endless repeat). BoM & Darka for their part have had annoyingly long refit times to/from the front lines.

So yeah, the war has been massively boring from my perspective. The Minas Leon thing is the only interesting thing that has occurred in Minas Ithil for a long time. If Minas Ithil survives in some form, it could even turn out to be a good thing for MI.

[Geronus]

Yeah, I'm not sure why people think we were having fun until we started losing. Frankly, I wasn't having much fun when we were "winning" either. Truth be told, the reason I signed Hammarsett's death warrant by declaring war on everyone and their mothers was that the two months of marching half way across the island and back to loot CE that led up to it were incredibly dull. Spend a week marching somewhere for a day or two of looting and then get spanked by Tara and spend another week slogging home. Wow, what fun! I will admit that the first two months or so were a good time when we were rolling over Coria, but it has basically sucked ever since. For the last, what is it now, two years? Must be getting close to that.

Personally I'm rooting for the South at this point. I just want them to hurry up and crush everyone already.

[Blue Star]

Personally I'm rooting for the South at this point. I just want them to hurry up and crush everyone already.

The south is actually looking good. It kinga reminds me of Abington for some reason eh gotta stop living in the past

[Eirikr]

Once those armies destroying MI leave to refit, they shouldn't return. Unless Coria decides to ignore the treaty they just (sort of) signed anyway, or find a loophole in it. Either of which are plausible possibilities.

If Coria sticks to the treaty and BoM and MI don't blow it up, the war in the east will effectively end. Only the all too aptly named western front will remain. Minas Leon's secession does complicate things however.

We're good for it, but Eston's not playing nice.

EDIT: Also, I got 4. I don't think KK will take me in, though.

[Bedwyr]

The south is actually looking good. It kinga reminds me of Abington for some reason eh gotta stop living in the past

Ah, Abington...I loved it so...

[GoldPanda]

Umm... what?

CE and Co. have destroyed like 3 or 4 realms consecutively in the past few years...

We've done a fair bit of looting in the south. Now we want to loot in the north for a change.

Realms destroyed by "CE & Co": Abington, Falasan, Helmsdale, Hammarsett
Realms created (or ripped out of our enemies) by "CE & Co": Caergoth, Suville, Coria, Strombran, Helmsdale, Hammarsett, Minas Leon

Realms destroyed by the NA: Norland
Realms created by the NA: ...

In other words:

The South giveth, the South taketh away. Net number of realms in the South has increased. The North just takes. Realms either stagnate in the North, or just get absorbed into the last remaining few realms.

"CE & Co": Net realm creator
NA: Net realm destroyer

Net number of new realms created by the South: 3
Net number of new realms created by the NA: ZE-RO
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dwqjk5Ppa2w&t=2m3s

Don't blame me when the NA only knows how to loot, and don't know how to follow through and actually kill realms that are not your former allies.

[Dante Silverfire]

We've done a fair bit of looting in the south. Now we want to loot in the north for a change.

Realms destroyed by "CE & Co": Abington, Falasan, Helmsdale, Hammarsett
Realms created (or ripped out of our enemies) by "CE & Co": Caergoth, Suville, Coria, Strombran, Helmsdale, Hammarsett, Minas Leon

Realms destroyed by the NA: Norland
Realms created by the NA: ...

In other words:

The South giveth, the South taketh away. Net number of realms in the South has increased. The North just takes. Realms either stagnate in the North, or just get absorbed into the last remaining few realms.

"CE & Co": Net realm creator
NA: Net realm destroyer

Net number of new realms created by the South: 3
Net number of new realms created by the NA: ZE-RO
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dwqjk5Ppa2w&t=2m3s

Don't blame me when the NA only knows how to loot, and don't know how to follow through and actually kill realms that are not your former allies.

I would like to point out that CE had nothing to do with the foundation of Hammarsett. That was Coria/Tara's mistake solely.

Also, shouldn't you include creating Tara as part of CE & Co's creations?

[Perth]

8. I truly think the only way that this problem though is solved in the long-run is if the CE/Tara federation splits.

Agreed. They are an unbelievable powerhouse, I would daresay the strongest in the game. Alas, they both know this so I don't see how it could ever happen really. The beginning of this war, uniting North and Far South, was the best chance we were ever going to have, and we blew it.

[Perth]

Don't blame me when the NA only knows how to loot, and don't know how to follow through and actually kill realms that are not your former allies.

You do realize this is not because the North "only knows how to loot" but because the only realms we could try to destroy are under the CE Umbrella of Protection. You can't touch them without touching CE and Tara.

We can kill other Northern realms, like we did with Norland. But there is no way to kill other realms as all others literally trigger CE protection basically.

I'm not saying this is wrong, just that this is the way CE dominates the island (which works brilliantly for them) and is why the the formula you presented is the way it is. It isn't hard to kill realms and make new ones when every time you get bored you simply pick a realm to destroy and 2/3's of the continent marches to war with you to destroy them.

[Dante Silverfire]

Agreed. They are an unbelievable powerhouse, I would daresay the strongest in the game. Alas, they both know this so I don't see how it could ever happen really. The beginning of this war, uniting North and Far South, was the best chance we were ever going to have, and we blew it.

I still stand by the fact that by uniting the North and the Far South, that you ensured your disaster. It was no guaranteed matter, but long-term that alliance would be impossible to maintain. The politics involved were just too untenable and the benefits gained just could not work.

Now, you WOULD have had success if Darka was convinced to invade Talerium from the beginning, and the Far South invaded both Tara and CE from the beginning.

Had you achieved a TRUE rock solid alliance between north and far south, then you would have won the war no matter what. However, it was not a secured alliance under a single vision. If it was, then nothing else would have stopped you.

[Perth]

I still stand by the fact that by uniting the North and the Far South, that you ensured your disaster. It was no guaranteed matter, but long-term that alliance would be impossible to maintain. The politics involved were just too untenable and the benefits gained just could not work.

Now, you WOULD have had success if Darka was convinced to invade Talerium from the beginning, and the Far South invaded both Tara and CE from the beginning.

Had you achieved a TRUE rock solid alliance between north and far south, then you would have won the war no matter what. However, it was not a secured alliance under a single vision. If it was, then nothing else would have stopped you.

Oh, absolutely. That is what I mean: a strong alliance between North and Far South was our best chance ever. The beginning of the war was the closest anyone will ever get to that for a long, long time now I think. We failed for several, basically glaring reasons. All I am saying is that the potential was certainly there, but failed to be capitalized upon.

Perhaps people will learn and maybe 3-5 years down the line if things line up again properly the North and Far South will be able to give it another go and learn from the mistakes of the first time around.

That is, if CE doesn't complete it's cookie cutter "destroy and replace with puppet" domination of the entire island first. Which would be impressive. Pax Cagilania!

[Sypher]

Thought I should throw out my prediction that Tara/Coria will end up regretting supporting Minas Leon (should it survive the next few weeks without any rurals).

[Dante Silverfire]

Thought I should throw out my prediction that Tara/Coria will end up regretting supporting Minas Leon (should it survive the next few weeks without any rurals).

I would like to point out that seeing as Hammarsett survived seemingly months without rurals....well I think its possible. (Also with a full contingent of militia in the city at the time)

[Eirikr]

If they're smart about not pissing anyone off and buying food, they can certainly survive under the new systems. That is, if they have the gold. I'm pretty sure a single-duchy realm can stay alive as long as they don't have an army knocking on their door every week.

I fully predict we're shooting ourselves in the foot by supporting Minas Leon, but that's what makes the game fun.

I've been trying to make moves to change things up in Coria, but I'm also careful not to get burnt doing it. There's been some success as far as expansion at least. The board's almost ready for the next guy.

[Blue Star]

To be honest, I switched sides after my 3 year vacation from BM and I am disappointed that's all NA and SA could muster. I was secretly rooting for them to come toe to toe and possibly push CE and Tara back a bit. CE&Tara were never going to be destroyed of course, but to fight against the NA for a change after 6 previously years being their really shows you the other side.

Abington = Suville in disguise