People have done it on other continents. And it took Tom's personal intervention on EC to break it up.
You cannot deny that multiple characters was a significant contributing factor. (Well you can deny it, but you'd be wrong.) Not the only factor, of course. There's no denying that your war machine was very good. But quite a lot of what you're describing is rooted in the advantages provided by that. No one is claiming deliberate abuse.
You worked within the limits and rules of the game, and that's fine. It's just that note the rules are changing.
