Leaderboard

Brb, making the United Union of Republic States Coalition Knights Federation

1. Inactive leadership--leaders and officers that are not online for days at a time can hurt the moral of members. Especially when said leaders aren't on discord. 2. Wack themes--Random names or names already used by a previous alliances is just stale and in bad taste. Especially, names that have the words "united, union, republic, states, coalition, Knights, federation etc.) 3. Weak Allies/No Protection--Choosing to ally with, for example, 5 member alliances with avg 300 score isn't a smart decision especially if your alliance is wholly out of range. Also, choosing generic top 50 procterates like NPO or Black Knights will get you nowhere. 4. Accepting New Players--Accepting new players is a risk because about 90% of new players go inactive in about two weeks. This results in non-taxable deadweight. 5. No advertising/Horrible Page Design-- having just a wall of text for alliance page is boring and nobody wants to read it. Also, having poor pixelated graphics does not make your alliance look good. Advertising helps get the word out.

6. Avoid free-range democracies to run your alliances. You want experienced members running departments they know how to run. If you want to new members, use meritocracy instead—recruit reliable and capable members to do some jobs, and bring them up the ranks.

#11: Don't abuse a well-known infinite resources glitch. Even if you do everything else right, you do that one thing wrong, you get rolled and cost your coalition the war.

I made that myself actually

Good Morning ORBIS! I'm back, While always a pirate who knows what will come of me :) I'm glad to see many familiar faces around; and sad to see many others gone. Jacob

You were free, you fool.

>#7: Don't make Sequel Alliances like say as an example: Pantheon 2 Electric Boogaloo. Resplendent 4 time boys

These are ridiculous, let me enlighten you on the SRD mode of alliance leadership. 1. Play this game and others like it for years. 2. Start an alliance of only active older players that have also been playing for years. 3. Make sure they all know what they are doing. 4. Make allies with other active alliances. 4. Sit back and relax you are done. Your alliance will now run itself.

22. Have fun and don't listen to others.

There are many more factors than this, mostly having to do with gov and membership. But the naming. the theme and the design of an alliance do sometimes ruin it.

Patently untrue. By doing this they might yet save me from socks.

A likely story. Either you're a terrible liar like most cheaters out there or you're completely oblivious to the rules.

6 months? That's a pretty generous estimate. Gotta give him at least a year cuz of the editing too!

Greetings Orbis, Leo is on vacation so i am forced to post this, anyways its been election season inside BK, and its been a interesting one indeed. We have had new and old members come forward to try their hand on these lucrative positions. Many people here may not even know we have a senate so i will take a moment to explain what our senate does. The senate is responsible for some of the most important decision inside of BK such as; who we will go to war with, who we sign or drop, what baked goods will be at the next election and most importantly who the emperor will be. (Will leo be replaced keep reading to find out) This cycle has finally concluded and im proud to announce the final winners of the fourteenth BK senate election The Voice of the people: @SauceMaster Senator 2: @Roquentin Senator 3: @bjrm Senator 4: @Fiji God Senator 5: @LordStrum Now with that over, senator Roq motioned for a new emperor and they unanimously approved keshav to be the next sitting emperor of BK! Congrats to everyone. Finally we wish to thank Leo for his service to BK. Notable mentions: @element85 @Pheonix

You were banned for: Creating multiple nations, trading between nations on the same network You and 3 other nations (No no sqaure, The Diseased Civilization, and Quadragon Dimensions) were trading with each other while also being on the same network. That is a violation of the Game Rules, and that is why you were banned.

I didn't realize this was such a big deal and a show finale. My apologies for missing it, I had a really busy day yesterday and just lost track of time and wasn't home in time.

Greetings People of Orbis, Today I come before you with a mixed bag of emotion. Just about 8 months ago we began our Great Job! journey. When Charlie and I decided to do a radio show, we were told that it had already been done and likely no one would care to listen. Regardless, Max took us in and gave us a place to host and archive our recordings. ORB has been a fantastic home and Max has been a great partner and friend. Charlie and I can't thank you enough for giving Great Job! with Kev and Charlie a place to take off. For several months we would have a show every Friday at 11PM Central. We would interview various guests and prolific players in the community and host events, such as the Hobo Express. That all comes to an end tomorrow. Wednesday night at 9PM Central (Chicago-time zone), we will be interviewing Alex and deliver the grand finale of Great Job! I would like to thank my partner-in-crime, Charlie, for teaming up with me on this grand venture. I would also like to give a special thanks to Max and all of our special guests. Most of all I would like to thank all of our listeners for keeping Great Job! the best radio show in all of the land. The average attendance of 220 listeners per show really humbled us and we can't thank you enough. Join us tomorrow night for one last episode of Great Job! with Kev and Charlie (ft. Alex aka Sheepy aka NR Destroyer aka Donation Dan) on the ORB Discord. Forever Yours, Kev and Charlie

frick yo war stats your moms a whore facts you might have more tanks but i wank spank bank wanks yo got nukes give me another I still be in your house banging yo mother and your brother without a rubber wank bank spank wank yup

proof

Ayy lmao

where do I pick up my Senate Speaker™ hat? should still be in storage

Congrats, looks solid

If it's not enough for you I received comment about this

If you want downdeclare sb what you do? Mostly you sell part of your army however if you are rich enough then...

Justin076 eats children baked in cages for breakfast. Tell all your friends.

Actually, yes, that is entirely fair. Gov members have a duty and responsibility which puts them on the hook when any of their members or fellow gov members misbehave; be that unauthorized raiding up to and including cheating. Leaders have an expectation and duty to know these things, and if they don't know or don't at least try to find out then they've failed in their obligations as a leader. It's not like you'd forgive Epi for avoiding action against someone in camelot that declared 5 attrition wars against BK and proceeded to go nuke-happy, right? To answer the second question, though, the normal level of membership don't share that responsibility and shouldn't be held accountable for their leadership, because they don't have any expectation or duty to know their leaders' secrets. That said, without evidence of active participation in the cheating, administrative action would indeed be inappropriate, but being socially called out and asked to resign or disband the offending alliance is entirely appropriate. Which is why we should respect Uriah for doing exactly that, and consider his duty fulfilled. At some later point he might even lead an alliance again; it would be difficult for him but still entirely allowable, since his duty in regards to the cheating has been fulfilled.

Epi is right. You all are soft.

It's a little worse, actually. We don't actually know it was only pooball. And I now lack confidence that Alex will find out if other people have benefited from this in the time it was possible.

Thanks I will handle it Edit: wrong account

You know, I hear you. And I've made that argument in the past to people who have been less than impressed with the job you do as admin: it's a tall order for one person. But here's the problem: it would actually be less effort to be consistent, and if you used some of the money you were advertising for to have someone come on to cover some of those gaps for you, you'd have a better game. I hear you that you'd prefer I quit than speak my mind about you taking people's money, though, loud and clear. I'll probably just tell people my opinion of you as an admin instead, but thank you for the suggestion.

Okay. So what you are saying is: 1) You always knew about this bug, and decided not to fix it when it was first reported to you. You decided it was inconsequential. 2) When people came to you a month ago to report that a bunch of resources appeared out of nowhere (which you should have already known, probably), you incorrectly decided it must have been someone coming out VM, and decided that was that. You did no further checks, which likely would have led you back to the culprit, and probably even the duplication bug that spawned them, since you already knew about it. This *directly* led to about 50-60 people in Nova's membership becoming entangled with those spawned resources, as well as the community at large buying them, essentially tainting the entire game's economy. 3) Having done some halfassed fixes now, well after it is too late, you decided to make a meme so that everyone can move on, using that community's flag as part of your joke. 4) 1-3 happened while you were taking people's money, advertising credits, and purporting to be an admin. I mean I guess I'd want everyone else to move on in your place at this point, but that doesn't give me any confidence about your ability to do your job. I'm not totally numb to the idea that running a game is a lot for one person to do. But if you're not able to do the job you need to to support the community you are taking money from, hire someone who can. And if you can't do THAT, then trying to make a cute joke about it seems to me to be in very, very poor taste. I had spoken to you in private about my concerns about Greene. I felt that you handled that entire situation entirely incorrectly (for those who may be less familiar, Greene was using real life money to buy in game money from other players, in effect getting around the credit limit. Alex took no action against him, said the community should police itself, and merely made an announcement saying "well from now on you better not do this!"). Compared to literally deleting nations who he has no proof were involved in the Nova exploit, it's hard to ignore the inconsistency.

wtf, Uriah posted a nice post... he wasnt a cheater. But goodluck to you Uriah!

o7

Holy shit @Alex the savagery I assume someone gave it to you given how clean it looks, but god damn hahah.

You’re a good dude Uriah, pity to see what happened to NR

I definitely don't condone or even understand why someone would cheat in a game like this, but it makes more sense to me that someone might if they literally report it to admin and he does nothing about it. Pooball does not come off like a mastermind here. I think his fear that other people might be benefiting from that same exploit is actually quite valid. And he tried to do the right thing about it initially, only to be failed by admin. He deserves the ban and I personally really revile anyone who would put their membership in the position he did. But ultimately he's not who I blame for this happening.

Jesus, there is so much to unpack with this incident. I see that many are focused on the perpetrator(s) and their participation in activities that are so blatantly in violation of the terms of use of this game. Rightly so, I might add. But this does raise, at least for me, what I consider to be bigger questions regarding this game and the operation thereof. For background, I have 25 years of experience in IT, mostly in endpoint management but I do know systems and have participated in large projects for multiple Fortune 500 companies. Some serious issues have been highlighted because of this incident from a systems operation and control perspective. I do not have insight into how Alex is running his operation so there I am probably making multiple false assumptions. The point is that the questions are being raised, not that I am providing answers to them. To start: 1. It appears there is a systems-wide lack of verification and process control with regards to player actions. Apparently a player was able to spawn massive amounts of resources without admin notification. This implies that there are no processes in place with regards to potential abuse vectors. I'm talking about a scheduled process/script that monitors resources and production by comparing current production to long-term trends and against outlying potentials (i.e. 1st and 2nd std dev potentials). Since there are theoretical limits to the amount of change that *could* occur to production in game (i.e., maximum production capability per nation and game-wide) this is simply a programming problem, and does not have any problem in implementation. It's totally doable and the apparent fact that it hasn't been done is concerning. 2. It also appears that there is documented proof of a similar exploit in use in a prior self-reported example by the original perpetrator. This points to a lack of control over session interaction with clients and the game system itself. I can only assume from face value and the example of nuking an opponent twice by simultaneously employing two separate and discreet clients that there is no system in place for identifying unique sessions and therefore multiple clients could indeed interact with the game within a relatively short period of time and conduct the same operation without failure. This points to a lack of database interaction control. Again, this is simply a systems design and programming problem, not an implementation problem unless the game system itself is really limiting the implementation. 3. The kicker for me is that this is a for-profit operation. There is an expectation by a paying customer that the game will operate within a set of expected behavior - that is, that you will gain an advantage by purchasing something within the game that someone will not be able to gain for free. Obviously this exploit calls this expectation into question and raises the most important problem of all: that the fundamental balance of the game is easily exploitable because of poor design and implementation. While I have purchased credits in the past I will no longer do so due to the serious administrative impact this exploit has highlighted. In short, this game needs to be run better. Things like this are avoidable. If asked for my advice it would be to hire professional staff to constantly evaluate the backend operation and question where potential exploits might be found, build reporting and verification systems to highlight exploits that were never considered, and to be more responsive to reports of exploits. LOL, I'm shaking my head that the original report was not acted upon from a systems perspective. To continue to allow customers to purchase credits while not addressing that issue is unethical and highly problematic. TL;DR, old man rants about things he cannot easily change. Thanks for coming to my TED talk.

Yikes. Why didn't that help?

Lmfao, so much for coming clean.

Nope that’s my re roll. Also can people please stop embargoing me I clearly didn’t knowingly cheat because I haven’t been banned. I even re rolled my nation to completely remove any chances of my old nation being assisted by any cheated money 19 cities of this nation were not bought my Nova but I got rid of them anyway out of guilt for not spotting the cheating. This witch hunt is disappointing and honestly makes me not want to be part of this community anymore.

Agreed with Seb and the others calling this out. Got to take a firm stand on these things to discourage further cheating in the future.

Money and or rss gotten by cheating should be deleted. Along with anything that was bought with illicit money. It is unfair to the rest of us that have stayed within the rules and have been playing this game for years.

it was over 1 billion of spawned resources and money got from spawned resources. The amount generated doesn't matter, having done so through cheating does. So that should also be deleted if you truly want to be fair to the community. Those resources weren't bought by someone else with legally obtained money or anything of the sort. It was part of the spawned and cheated ill gotten rss.

To be hot or not to be hot? That’s NOT the soup’s question because it’s already HOOOOOTT ???

The Soup is hot.

Article One - Primary Aim and Agenda: The overall aim of Resplendent, is to establish an alliance capable of providing ample opportunity for economic growth and militaristic protection. Resplendent will do whatever within its power to protect the political sovereignty of itself and its member nations, to ensure their perpetual security and protection, and the doctrine of aggressive neutrality with the aim of establishing more peaceful relations. Article Two - Principle of Non-Involvement: The Principle of Non-Involvement is not the principle of non-intervention, but no individual of Resplendent to exhibit a partiality towards one side or another in a conflict to which Resplendent has either decided or pledged to refrain from. Such things would include the abstention from ghosting, taking direct hostile action against an alliance for non-approved reasons, or the providing of aid for nations in alliances Resplendent is maintaining peace during conflict with. Article Three - Principle of Impartiality: The Principle of Impartiality ensures the impartial attitude of Resplendent government towards any asylum seeker, diplomat, or guest that visits Resplendent communication channel, whether in-game or out of game. Satisfying the Principle of Impartiality requires that we are able to treat the other party in impartial manner, regardless of their identity and/or background. Another such instance of the Principle of Impartiality is in regards to the markets. Resplendent pledges and ensures that the member nations will always seek the lowest prices unless affected by alliance conflict, embargo or relation. Article Four - Principle of Sovereignty: The Principle of Sovereignty requires the protection of the alliance, thereby the individual members. Any such infringement of this principle will be met with such action deemed necessary. The Principle of Sovereignty also applies to the member nations of Resplendent in a manner to which the individualism of each member is to not be restricted by the government of Resplendent, nor any foreign government. Individual sovereignty is to be protected by the usage of firmly defined democratic practices and sound capitalistic economic programs. It is the belief of the alliance and the membership to uphold first and foremost the sovereignty of the alliance as a whole and the membership, and to therefore maintain a sufficient and impressive military to deter aggressors and secure our sovereignty. Article Five - Principle of Reciprocity: The Principle of Reciprocity reflects our acceptance of reaching compromise with other alliances, and that other alliances are encouraged to accept such compromise. We view ourselves as an institution in which both a strong alliance can exist whilst still allowing the flourishing of democratic ideals. It must be concluded that an alliance such as Resplendent is asking for exemptions and/or liberties from the rest of the alliances, which can nevertheless be essential for us in ensuring our continued non-involvement, and impartiality. Any past aggression shall not be held against, nor shall be acted upon without due and proper reason. Article Six - Principle of Perpetuity: The Principle of Perpetuity is our belief that to keep up this confidence, being the confidence our friends and enemies have in us, Resplendent must maintain its purpose and determination with a strong sense of long-term stability, so that other alliances will be able to predict our future course and steer clear of it, while trusting that by doing so we will never interfere with their own interests. If we change our standards so abruptly and frequently, how can any foreign alliance trust that we do not pose a future threat for their long-term interests? It is obvious that in order for such stability to exist, it is necessary for us to not only momentarily discuss and execute whatever standards we choose to be the best, but to follow the same set of standards faithfully for an extended period of time, even if the political climate surrounding us changes in a radical manner. Article Seven - Standards of Excellence: The multitude of standards we shall exhibit will always and forever be firmly grounded in a level of excellence so expected from this Alliance. Posting on public avenues is an inalienable right allowed to our members, however such right can be restricted should such a level of in-excellence be met. Members of the elected Government are the zenith of our democratic idealism, and so to ensure that we maintain a voice in these forums in matters that do directly concern us, these members whom are held in such excellence will demonstrate their capability. Article Eight - Opinion on Influences: It is believed and so derived from the Principles of Impartiality and Sovereignty that any alliance which attempts to exert unwanted and undue influence upon us which is not our own, is to be restricted and combated to the best of our capabilities. As such in any regard to when our impartiality is required, it will be our mission to remove any influence which may cause partiality and/or discrimination against any party involved. The view of foreign alliances influencing other foreign alliances via underhanded, or otherwise shady methods, are viewed as unfavorable, unforgivable, and wholeheartedly cowardly and craven. Article Nine - Focus on Economic Practice: It is mentioned to be our primary aim to provide ample opportunity for economic growth, and as such Resplendent shall do what is in its power to provide such opportunities to its membership. The abstention from war shall not be a permanence, however shall be a creed and guideline to which we shall follow. To seek economically beneficial engagements shall be common and we shall aim to accomplish, however to unnecessarily sacrifice our alliance and its membership is gross incompetence and negligence. It is the mindset of Resplendent, in order to ensure the individual opportunities and rights of all of our members, it is paramount to engage in capitalistic, libertarian-esque, economic practices. Such would be minimum taxation upon our members, unless in times of war, the allowance of free trade between our members and all others, unless due to embargo or conflict, and the allowance for self-determination in regards to offensive operations which do not result from the need to defend ourselves or our sovereign allies. Article Ten - Encouraged Economic Practices: Whilst member states of Resplendent shall always have the right to self-determination, especially in regards to their nations’ economic practice, there are several practices to which have been proven to be beneficial and effective for larger nations. One such idea is the concept where the nation imports all raw resources, and converts the said resources into manufactured goods for sale and national improvement. This system is particularly good for nations wishing to improve their warchest, and for those that opt to refrain from repeated numerous engagements. Another system of economic practice would be that where the nation importants all manufactured resources for national improvement, and produces solely food nationally. This food based nation will thus save rebuilding costs due to the larger investment into land area as opposed to infrastructure. Whilst arguably less profitable than the previously mentioned manufacturer-based nation, this system is particularly good for those which would like to maintain a larger military and have cheaper post-war costs. Article Eleven - Focus on Militaristic Protection: As with the primary aim of economic opportunity, the dual aim is that of militaristic protection. Resplendent aims to be able to protect its members from any form of hostile attack, especially in regards to militaristic means. The duty of not only the government, but the general membership is to aid its fellow member against any aggression against each other and the alliance. As stated in the Principle of Sovereignty, this will require the maintenance of a sufficient and impressive military to deter aggressors and fight off invaders. This sworn duty is not an opinion of Resplendent, but a fact for all of its members, and such duty cannot be dismissed, delayed, or withdrawn from without leaving the alliance. This maintenance of the national military should and must be the primary importance, overtaking that of economic prowess. Article Twelve - Guarantees of the Freedom of Speech: Never shall the freedom of speech of any member of Resplendent be infringed upon, unless acting in gross in-excellence. Whatever things they may say shall be protected so long as it does not incite genuine discrimination or harassment. Any such behavior which is found to be not in good humor, will be quickly expunged. Article Thirteen - Council of Triumvirs: The Governing Council, known as the Triumvirate, should refrain from interfering not only in the lives of the individual nation states, but also the general runnings of the alliance. It’s aim is to set the direction of policy, to ensure the policy enshrines the ideals of Resplendent, and to deal with foreign affairs and emergencies. It has never been the practice to micromanage the sovereign departments of Resplendent, but to guide them on the correct path of policy in accordance to the laws of the alliance and its spirit. Powers of the Triumvirate should be delegated downwards to the lower levels of government whenever possible, as to give them the necessary experience to handle the alliance should emergency occur, thus improving their own experiences and character. Although serving for indefinite term lengths, these positions enshrine the epoch of not only governmental authority, but also democracy. Should a Triumvir either resign from his post, or be unfortunately impeached by the membership, only the best and brightest should run and be elected to these positions. Article Fourteen - Facilitator: The Facilitator is the highest ranking official with a regular election cycle. As such they are to conduct themselves with the utmost respect for our democratic traditions. They are the face of the alliance, the embodiment of the membership. It is their duty to run the daily happenings of the alliance, to administrate the advisors which serve below he/her, and to guide the alliance in accordance to the requests of the Governing Council, but primarily in accordance to the ideals of Resplendent. Whilst the Governing Council will typically handle all of the highest levels of administration, it is expected that Facilitator be included in most, if not all, of the proceedings. Foreign diplomacy may be initiated by the Facilitator, however must be finalized through the Triumvirate, in which the Facilitator is encouraged to attend such meetings. Article Fifteen - Advisors: The Advisors are the lowest ranking official with regular election cycles, as well as being the lowest government official in the alliance. Despite this, it is expected for them to run their departments in an expected level of excellence under the guidance of the Facilitator. They shall carry out the policy of the Facilitator and the Governing Council. Article Sixteen - Prismatic Legacy: Whilst not the direct successor to the original Resplendent, the Alliance shall aim to be the spiritual successor to the best of its ability whilst retaining its own sovereign individuality. It is our duty to carry on the ideals and the spirit of the original Resplendent, and to never regress in our progress forward.