[Why the Paperless Bloc Failed]

tldr of OP's post: TEst's fighting with GoT/ Nuke bloc et al. left them without any viable allies and they will likely be forced to abandon paperless.

 

Well written post, and also correct from the perspective of military campaign. However I feel you managed to sorely miss the point. TEst are suffering not from a failure to make allies, but from their own ideology. In order for an alliance to ally with TEst, it is not TEst who must convince the other alliance, it is the other alliance that must convince TEst. Pre has high standards for allies and only competent leaders are worth working with. You can probably see that the policies of those outside of Syndisphere do not appeal to those standards.

 

This exclusivity is the fundamental ideology of TEst, and you can see how well it has worked for them, remaining as the most prominent non-Syndi aligned entity. I believe that deviating from this line of decision making would have ultimately surrounded Pre with more conflicts such as Rose/ Valyria and Mensa/ SK, and any potential conflicts that may arise with NPO.

 

So with that in mind, you can see exactly why TEst has suffered in this war. The lack of allies is not attributed to the failure to court them or rally them, but for the potential allies' failure to prove competent.

 

Side note, the paperless sphere hasn't died, this conflict just means they lose a war, but that doesn't equate to total failure. They made some questionable decisions in fighting everyone outside of Syndisphere, which has partially contributed to their rolling. But it is their independence and ideology that leads them to those fights, and the current war, as with every war, is not a result of policies themselves, but of specifics. Lordship and Pre falling out was what actually triggered this conflict I believe.