James XVI

A big issue is that the Middle East is an incredibly unstable region politically. In this case there are two main groups of people in the region with a lot of history/belonging (or whatever), and conflicting ideas. Like it or not, both have claims to the region/city, and having a very powerful nation make a move that strongly favours one of those groups over the other is going to cause contention and unrest (see the links in my other post in this thread) - that is by no means a good thing. Surely it's best to handle foreign affairs with more tact as opposed to making what is considered a fairly large decision without at least some sort of effort to consult all parties it could affect? It feels there's possibly a tad more at stake from this than just the US strengthening allies and getting trade deals or whatever..

Grand Admiral Kastor has control over KT now too? Where will his tendrils of influence end?

Relevant bump as it seems to be a tad unclear with some - Roz Wei protects this alliance (as stated on both our and their homepages).

Good grief.

It's about time a catalogue retailer came to Orbis.

Lets just sweep some of the repercussions of an ill-thought out move (considering the current Middle Eastern political climate) under the rug, shall we? (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-44123116, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-44124556)

Interesting. My comments are below (though I'm writing this really late so forgive poor wording or bad sentence-stringing - been meaning to write some sort of response to this for a while now)... For personal context, I'm pretty far left leaning, though more moderate in most liberal-type policies, and a European. I'm not a Trump supporter, mostly (though somewhat irrelevant to this particular discussion) due to his environmental beliefs, and sometimes erratic behaviour. Not a US citizen, but probably applies in similar aspects elsewhere - highly likely that most people will take many things at face value. That being said, I don't see how that would create a racial divide, though it could exacerbate such a thing. I would say though that a racial divide probably does exist however, though mostly on the fact that equality for some groups has only come into place within the lifetimes of current generations, and to very much simplify it, "old habits die hard". Considering the speed of communication, and prevalence of social media in the world, real events happening will be both spread quickly and magnified, and will result in mass spreading of truths, as well as mistruths often with little chance for supporting evidence. It, like with all other forms of 'media' should be used with some caution and objectiveness. There's always going to be an agenda on behalf of someone regardless of source or subject. I suspect not (don't know much about his history however), though that would be somewhat amusing... Actually, fairly recently (last August) at the place I was working at the time I did witness something that could be taken as racism (or at least pretty rude) directed in audible range of someone else in the room during a conversation I was having with them - it was along the lines of "I can't understand what these people are saying" spoken with a noticeable element of malice, and said not quite as politely as that. That was in an area with ~95% native population (about half of which have pretty thick, hard to understand native English accents anyway, somewhat hypocritical at least). I resent the fact that mainstream, centrist/big business/organisation supporting media is referred to as 'leftist' :p On a different, though somewhat related note, a potential article of interest for discussion on the subject of free speech, the use of media & social media, and potential racial divides: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/may/11/rakem-balogun-interview-black-identity-extremists-fbi-surveillance

Liking the lineup, liking your intentions, all the best!

Plus, if it was never that intention to let people grow to such an extent, it really should have been dealt with sooner... <<not a complaint towards this suggestion, more critique of the game's development in that regard.

To be fair if it was done once and didn't really address the issue to the point where it needs to be done again, what's going to make it work a second time? For people without an alliance, reducing city cost won't do anything RE: keeping them in game. I would imagine the main issue there is lack of protection from raiding.

I'm fairly sure there's more to player retention than just slow city growth (at least to the extent that is being suggested). If you can keep someone playing for ~1-2 months, chances are they'll continue playing for a while longer. Once you're reaching 9-19 cities chances are you're not really going to be in the instance where you're disheartened about nation size disparity. There's also a number of low NS alliances with a large number of these small players. If it was truly the case that people don't hang around just because growth is too slow, why do these alliances exist? The game doesn't (and shouldn't) just revolve around the largest 15-20 alliances and their playing styles, rather should be open to having some extent of difference in the hope of making things more diverse. The game isn't just about growing (or else the name wouldn't be politics and war). Alternatively, it'd be better to extend the limit on how many cities can bypass the 10 wait timer (it's currently 5?), to perhaps 6 or 7

Well shit. Always loved reading the Legends - one of the only reasons I decided to keep logging in to these forums. The fact that people can't recognise RP from RL is somewhat disturbing. Absolutely enjoyed every day of my time in Roz Wei under Rozalia's leadership, the majority of my most favourite memories and experiences are from then. Truly RW has been (and I've no doubt still will be under AkAk) one of the best and most interesting alliances out there. Take care Roz, and all the best to RW for the future.

Interesting, thanks both.

Hey @OsRavan something that's been bugging me since you visited the TGH server that I can't stand not knowing anymore: Is this my computer continuing to die by just showing writing here, or is this a personal touch/hybrid between emoticons and those emoji shits or whatever they are called now? This has been keeping me awake at night, I'd appreciate a reply posthaste. On an aside, More paperless alliances willing to get involved in wars would definitely get my support

Great as always, Roz. There's a reason you get nominated for 'best IC poster' annually.