Message #82560

[Anaris]

You don't want to 'make the war more fun.' You want to have a sporting chance because you are looking at it like a sport. You want to measure Ohnar West's ability to send 6,000 or 8,000 or 10,000 CS somewhere against Sorraine's ability to do the same. This is well and good but it has nothing at all to do with why realms go to war.

If you look at wars on the FEI as 'gang bangs' or the 'let's gang up on OW' train then you are purposefully blinding yourself to the reasons and motivations that cause these wars. Medieval politics are local and personal. Arcachon didn't just fight a war with Arcaea -- they insulted Arcaeans every chance they got. They made it as difficult as possible for Arcaea to conquer the Dark Isle even well after it became clear that they had no hope of winning. Their mission was to make life for King Velax as unpleasant as possible. So it is no surprise to me that three quarters of what anybody thinks about Ohnar West is made up of leftover grudges against Arcachon nobles.

I'm not saying that I envy the hand dealt to Ingall in all this but Cathay started the last war with a smaller army than either Zonasa or Kindara when our nearest and only guaranteed ally had a 10-day turnaround time for a refit due to the distances involved. We didn't out-resource either Zonasa or Kindara and at best we fought them to a draw on the field. The one resource that isn't measured in a number on the realm info page is 'friends and favors' and if Ingall is savvy and Ohnar lets him do his job, he ought to at least be able to make a go of it. Or, barring that, at least deny Sorraine victory through a couple creative alternatives.

Y'know, I may not always agree with you, but this is one of the best statements of the sensible side of the "gangbang" issue I've seen (particularly the first paragraph).

Well said.