Holton

Ah yes, another opportunity for the self-empowered few to exercise their authority over the voiceless masses.

if exploitation is an issue, turn off the ability to make money from baseball. No need to refund anything to anyone because the real investors have been using it to exploit your game anyway.

Firstly, please don't let this game's mechanic be dictated by a stupid forum poll. Secondly, the theme of this game always struck me as "Quick Recovery". Meaning if you lost a war, you could rebuild without having lost literal irl years of effort (tech from (That terrible game that is totally irrelevant and I shouldn't be bringing it up anyways)). This has made wars much more frequent and the game more fast paced. A good thing. Spies are one of the few categories that don't fit that theme. You can kill 10-20 spies per operation but you can only recruit 2-3 per day. I think a lesser change, but on two fronts, would bring more balance to spies: Boost recruitment from 2-3 to 3-4, and nerf spy deaths by like 10%. This brings the game closer to balance in multiple ways, without bringing an axe to a surgery.

How does one expect an Inquisition announcement? I thought nobody expects...

It's treason then

I get the propaganda campaigns and FA attempts... I just wish they came across... better. This slow-but-sure campaign of "well it's impossible to win and look how bored everyone is with the current state of things" is low-energy, to use a borrowed term. Yes many of us recognize the state of things and the need for change. Many disagree on what that change should be but perhaps if you wish to persuade people, don't just tell them how bad they have it now. Give them a future to look forward to if they choose it.

Is this an updated web at the moment? Zodiac and BK still connected by treaty to Syndicate?

CB's aren't needed mechanically but they *should* matter politically. Effort is what makes a political simulator work. Player-created content, spying on alliances (more than in-game functions), harsh reps, ambitious leadership, intra-alliance politics, drama, shitposting, effortposting, trolling, doing things that create emotional responses... Inactivity and complacency are the bane of interest in this game genre. TEst and NPO really seem to be the only two groups that have consistently shown they give a damn.

In which people take my roasts to heart. Next up: Abbas, cooked well-done.

It's interesting how people's answers are always the same in these threads... "who's the smartest" "who's the most popular" "who's the best leader" "who's the best at xyz" We see repeats of almost 95% alliance leaders. So I'm going to roast every popular member here to change the trend. Partisan - When's the last time you even put effort into a post? Your popularity came from your FA and your OWF presence and now you're a ghost riding on your laurels from a bygone era. Roquentin - You're reputed to be a savant with nation sims and backroom dealings, admittedly you pulled BK into the fold, but where are the W's? Jessica Rabbit - If you're such a genius, why has 33-45% of the Syndicate membership dipped out to form shitty micros? Seems like people would appreciate such great organization and intelligence. Prefontaine - Such a badass til you and all the testicles got rekt and you ragequit like a !@#$. Didn't that happen in every other nationsim I've seen you in? Eumir - boi been clapped so many times how does he even count Infinite Citadel - You've been riding backseat OSravan-style the entirety of PnW. If you're so great then take charge and be seen leading and stop letting satellites like BK get away and almost beat you in a war. Curufinwe - Psweet hasn't couped Zoot yet? 'nough said. Yoso were hard shoes to fill though, strum's blatant inactivity definitely didn't do the job. Psweet - You don't use discord. Insta-bad.

The irony of Roquentin expecting the 'hegemoney' to break itself apart for his convenience is so sweet.

Yeah maybe my example of the only two active leaders was a bad one, but I wanted to use recognizable names. To be entirely fair to me, I just wanted to re-ignite conversation because I missed the first 15 pages of this thread ha. I just get tired of seeing Pacifica, or Pacifican sympathizers, play the victim card like NPO has been so oppressed because you've been met with some pushback in your FA.

We're almost at 20 pages of beating a dead horse. Every war I've seen in Orbis has started the same way. Someone tries to start shit with Syndisphere thinking they have the advantage. They get a half-decent first strike in. Some combination of Mensa/TKR/Syndicate/BK (RIP) get ignored in favor of overtly engaging one of others. The ignored alliance builds up and slowly begins relieving pressure on one other. Then those two relieve pressure on the other two. Then the war turns into a loss for the opposition and the only defense people can come up with is either cheesy - nukes when they weren't good, or "winning" in the lower tiers - or total chaos ie paracov. This screams disorganization, but it also screams a lack of morale / effort being put forth. This is a competitive setting where you have to try if you want to win and the people coming on the public forums trying to argue that things are unwinnable when half of syndicate split off to make a micro AND you turned BK to your side. A lack of morale and organization usually turns into a dissatisfaction with leadership and yet Roquentin is still Emperor. Curufinwe is still Emperor. Pangui or Hansarius / insert-rotational old-guard figure here are still running UPN. Either fire your leaders and exit the greater political game if you're inactive and disinterested, or fire your leaders and step up to do what needs to be done.

I've had a similar incident. A man named sheepy has been promoting his alternative to PnW within the community for some time now. I believe it's called statekraft. Very annoying how these games have all these pretenders trying to eat off PnW's market share.

“Oh, I think not,†Holton said, swirling the wine in his cup. “CB is a curious thing, my lord. Perchance you have considered the riddle I posed you that day in the inn?†“It has crossed my mind a time or two,†Milton admitted. “The Emperor, the Ayylien, the whale—who lives and who dies? Who will the coalition obey? It’s a riddle without an answer, or rather, too many answers. All depends on the man with the coalition.†“And yet they are no one,†Holton said. “They have neither crown nor gold nor favor of the memes, only a warchest of pointed steel.†“That warchest of steel is the power of life and death.†“Just so… yet if it is the coalition who rule us in truth, who do we pretend our Emperors hold the power? Why should a strong coalition with a warchest ever obey a child Emperor like Roquentin, or a wine-sodden oaf like Curufinwe?†“Because these child Emperors and drunken oafs can call other strong men, with other warchests.†“Then these other coalitions have the true power. Or do they?†Varys smiled. “Some say knowledge is power. Some tell us that all power comes from the memes. Others say it derives from Order. Yet that day on the steps of Baelor’s Sept, our godly High Ayylien and the lawful Queen Regent and your ever-so-knowledgeable servant were as powerless as any cobbler or cooper in the crowd. Who truly killed Inquisition, do you think? Roquentin, who gave the command? Curufinwe, who swung the sword? Or… another?†Milton cocked his head sideways. “Did you mean to answer your damned riddle, or only to make my head ache worse?†Varys smiled. “Here, then. CB resides where men believe it resides. No more and no less.†“So CB is a mummer’s trick?†“A shadow on the wall,†Holton murmured, “yet shadows can kill. And ofttimes a very small man can cast a very large shadow.†Milton smiled. “Lord Holton, I am growing strangely fond of you. I may kill you yet, but I think I’d feel sad about it.†“I will take that as high praise.â€

Someone needs to redub the bollywood music video with PnW stuff

I have this coupon from Ogaden good for 3 days of no raiding that I would like to redeem

NpO stuck to its guns over the years and got crushed repeatedly for it. They had a purpose and survived, even thrived. UPN's been stripped of its score, members, and political relevance because you had no purpose. You guys haven't had a purpose for a long time. It shows when you blindly follow your masters into a war that you bow out of early anyway.

I feel like my message was pretty clear. I wasn't assuming your motivations, I know UPN has none of those. I was saying that I hope your motivations include something a little more self-serving other than "because they told us to." In fact, typically speaking, motivation for going to war almost exclusively should be more than simply towing the line. I get coalition warfare and all that but genuinely how has that worked out so far? How has morale been within UPN and other alliances on your side that weren't directly involved in Inquisition's schemes and were instead just tertiary allies called in to fill gaps in the war? Clearly, from this surrender, not great. Don't get me wrong, I hold disdain for UPN but my posts aren't designed to troll or shit on you. Heck I wouldn't even call myself a fan of Syndisphere. I'm calling you out so that you might recognize and better yourselves. Perhaps even learn from the repeated lessons that an actual CB might help your members care about the war so that the next time you have numbers advantage you might actually win.

Bumping this to say thanks sheepy for reducing the new nation trade restrictions to +/- 30%! Now if only there were some person liberally exploiting loopholes in the rules to automate 75% of alliance (and likely nation) functionality that might need to be scrutinized. hmmmm.

i just sent your nation food, aluminum, and munitions to make up for the frustration. Can you accept personal trade offers below average price? (ie - free)

Effort is appreciated, hell it might even be respected. Now we just need the rest of your side to put forth maybe 1/10th of the effort you put into propaganda and maybe we'll actually have some "shake ups".

Funny how people claim treaties don't remove their own alliance's sovereignty, but when it comes time to discuss the CB every war there are always people claiming that they were merely answering the call... "just following orders". At least nut up and admit you thought there was a chance at victory and went in because UPN would profit. That your treaty was a mere realpolitik extension of your own desire to topple your enemy. At least give me the satisfaction of knowing that the entire group of UPN didn't just blindly rush in because they were told to by another group? This is a message that should resonate with all alliances that use the line "we were just coming in for an ally." That's called being a follower, you're just using a different verbiage and trying to pass it off as honorable. Alliances exist to be sovereign political entities, and if you thought otherwise you would merge. STOP SIGNING TREATIES THAT COULD DRAG YOU INTO A SITUATION YOU DISAGREE WITH. If you genuinely can't even publicly comment on the CB, let alone defend it, then you shouldn't be involved in that war period. Going along for the ride is what creates stagnant politics, and it's what has cost UPN and other alliances victory multiple times over the past two years. The optional clause exists for a reason. Utilize it. No, it is not defending an ally if they got countered going into an aggressive war. It's not that !@#$ing hard.

And I appreciate your effort to make propaganda for the other side.