Gaius Julius Caesar

Like.... Like I just said, Morf, the issue T$ had with Grumpy was that they had gone a long time without being rolled, and we thought that was an issue. We don't have any personal issues with Grumpy, the only people who are saying we do is Hollywood. There are plenty of people in grumpy who were members of the syndicate, or church of Spaceology, or Veridian Expanse or alliances such as that. We have made it clear how we really feel about Grumpy, time and time and time and time again. I don't know what else to tell you, mate. As for the Rose and The Immortals thing, There are a number of issues with that. First of all, since when has literally anyone ever use the age of an alliance to determine how strong is it? By that logic, Clock must be just not even on your radar, since Hand Of Fate, Eclipse, Terminus Est, and Cataclysm were all made in 2020 or 2021, and are even younger than TI. Disregarding the very strange argument that their age has anything to do with the importance of them being signed by you, I appreciate the fact that you entirely disregarded my point. The issue people took with you signing the immortals was the fact that traditionally, as you yourself said on your show, the issue that Hollywood had was that it's lower tier was weak, and often took a beating in an attack. To combat that, you signed literally the largest low/ middle tier alliance in the game, to ensure that you didn't have a weakness at any size. As for where this narrative was, I was on the show the night we talked about it, I mentioned the fact that I had concerns about it, that I wouldn't have done it, and that I thought it was dangerous, but I said that Hollywood was going to do what was in its best interest, not the interest of anyone besides Hollywood. That was my stance, on your own very show. Disregarding that, that still doesn't address my point. Hollywood had no issue with it signing the immortals to ensure that it had no weaknesses, it was not concerned about the balance of the game. Why is it now so concerned about the balance of the game The Syndicate and Rose sign together? Because, when Hollywood was doing that, it was making sure you were strong and could not be rivaled by anyone. Now, you seem concerned by the fact that someone has made another strong block, and you immediately start talking about how it's bad for the game. Furthermore, you still haven't answered my question. You say you think it's bad for the game, but you are refusing to answer me, what would you have done instead? If the situation was reversed, and TKR found itself in a block that was not strong enough to compete at the top tier, at least in terms of alliances not in terms of nation size, what would it have done? I seem to a call that happening after duck hunt, and I seem to recall TKR taking BK, and joining hedge money, forming the largest, and strongest bloc in the game. Maybe my memory is foggy though.

The idea of saying that what we are doing isn't unprecedented, and isn't unrivaled, due to it happening in other spheres, isn't the equivalent of saying we're doing this because of those other groups. I have not seen every instance of people equivalating our presence in the 30's with Hollywood's presence in the 40's, but I've seen a few and the ones I've seen have spoken of it being a matter of where people put the emphasis in their sphere. As for the idea of this being a dangerous move, and you disagreeing with it, despite understanding it, Is this not very similar to what happened between Hollywood and the Immortals? Hollywood saw an issue with its tiering and noticed that in wars it often suffered in the lower tier. To address that, it signed the immortals, and I believe it was you yourself, or at least someone from TKR on the show That pushed back against the idea that it was bad for the game. People made plenty of comments when Hollywood signed the immortals, saying other blocks would need to make drastic moves to be able to compete, because Hollywood now had a very large and competent lower tier, a very competent middle tier with TKR, BK and others, and the largest upper tier with Guardian and Grumpy. It wasn't the interest of Hollywood to ensure bipolarity at that time, it was the interest of Hollywood to do what was in its own best interest, despite the fact that it was acknowledged that it made fighting Hollywood much more difficult for other spheres. People who defended that move now being judgemental of the moves of another sphere, saying it's bad for the game seems awfully two faced and hypocritical, and that is what I meant when I said I expected better from you. It seems like the argument is that things are permissible for your sphere, but you judge it when it's others spheres.

As I said, I understand the response, but like I said, the response is not taking certain things into consideration, the first and foremost of which was the purpose behind that rolling. If we are looking at the history of this game, the reason behind Brawylood or whatever it was called was NOT to try to break up Hollywood, or break up Grumpy and Guardian, or because we hate GG. The purpose of that was, and this was made clear at the time, the fact that Grumpy and Guardian had not been rolled and had their growth interrupted since NPO's Last Time, which ended February 20, 2020. The wars after that were the Ten Day War, which saw Hedge Money and Swamp both absolutely obliterate a much smaller opponent in tCW-Sphere. Hedge obliterated tCW, and quickly peaced out before it took damage. That was the style of war GG has historically enjoyed, a quick and easy war where they accomplish their goals quickly and peace out before they take much damage, because GG has always had one of the hardest, if not the hardest punches in a war. When GG blitzes you, you get obliterated in the first round, and it takes multiple rounds after that to try to really damage them, because you need to get control of lower levels before up-declaring on them. The war after that was Duck Hunt, which I know you remember. Everyone took damage there, but GG didn't take as much as others, again due to the fact that it's hard to up-declare on them when you're being beaten on. The war after that was Guns And Roses, which I again know you remember, and again, GG didn't take much damage for the same reasons I've laid out. It was only after THAT, that Brawlywood occurred, a full five globals after NPO's Last Time, on Aug 17, 2021. That was a full NINETEEN MONTHS after NPO's Last Time, and over that stretch of time every single sphere was rolled at least once, except for GG. Brawylood occurred to interrupt the longest stretch of growth any one group has had in this war. To point to an extremely specific and abnormal situation, and say "This is why we are cautious" is just not based in reality. You said it yourself, Brawlywood was six months ago. That's certainly longer than most blocs get to grow freely, but it's less than a third of the length of time that prompted Brawlywood. Let's be reasonable here, WS.

I believe WANA has made it abundantly clear that this move is not about Grumpy. He has said multiple times in this exact thread that this has nothing to do with Grumpy, and that his position towards Grumpy has not changed and that he does not desire more wars with Grumpy. I understand that any moves instantly have to be considered in the framework of how it affects you as a sphere, but you've been told repeatedly, by multiple members of high govs from both Rose and T$ that this is not about attacking Grumpy or Hollywood, this is not about starting a new war, this is not us being aggressive. WANA said it himself, this was a move to respond to the growth of other spheres and to remain competitive, but if you look at people growing stronger to remain competitive as a threat and a direct challenge to you, then I am sorry for that. There's nothing more that can be said than what is already said, we are not interested in more wars with Grumpy, that's a horse that's been beaten to death. Blackwater had remained relatively consistent since the end of Quack. The Syndicate, House Stark, Order Of The White Rose, Carthago and Eclipse started off. Eclipse, the second largest member of Blackwater, left to form Clock and so Blackwater was greatly weakened. Other allies were added, such as The Legion, Divine Phoenix Empire, and others, but as we saw in the most recent war, there was a large gap in strength between Blackwater and Hollywood, and a believed gap in strength between Blackwater and Clock. Rose and other members of Mile High Club saw a sizable difference in their strength and the strength of Clock and Hollywood, and so when two blocs both share a belief that there is a gap between them and other blocs, it's natural that they would work together to grow stronger. This is not some formation of Quack 2.0, this is not some conjoining of highly aggressive and belligerent alliances. I've said on your own show, Morf, we've spoken about this on multiple occasions, there is an issue with a lack of quality alliances in the game. Strong alliances with quality members are hard to come by, if blocs want to grow in strength, this is the sort of thing that needs to be done. TKR did it when Quack was no longer viable, TKR and BK went and joined Hedge Money and formed Hollywood. What would you have had Blackwater and Mile High Club do, with their belief that they needed to make moves to stay competitive? Just said "No, you guys are fine, sign small alliances and don't make major moves" or something along those lines? That's just not viable in the game today, you know that all too well. Like I understand the response and belief of every sphere that this move is directly because of them and this is a sign that Rose and T$ are going to attack them because everyone knows Rose and T$ have been such aggressive and hostile alliances in the past, but that's just not the case. We can address this as reasonable people with logic, but you saying this means T$ wants to attack Grumpy and Guardian and force them to split up because T$ and Rose and our allies joined to remain competitive is just an argument in bad faith, and I honestly expected better from you.

Mayor, you are spinning in circles here so rapidly I'm afraid you're gonna start a tornado. Let's address a few things. Despite your accusations that we have abandoned our allies, as was explained to you last night in DNN, that is not the case in the slightest. There has been communication between various members of Blackwaters, explaining things that are being done and communicating on strategy. You were expressly told by Justin what was happening and why were doing it. You said then that we were giving up, and you were told by both Justin and myself that was not the case. You can continue to ignore what was said to you because it doesn't suit the agenda you are pursuing, but that doesn't make the accusations true. We have neither given up, nor have we abandoned our allies. As the concept that keyboard warriors tracked you down in DNN to talk to you, that's also simply not true. You sat in DNN and said we were acting in a manner that was almost as bad as IQ did when it deleted, and you called the Syndicate pathetic. We did not hunt you down, people merely informed me in particular what was being said, and where it was being said, and so I joined, along with another member of the Syndicate's government to explain what was being done and why it was being done. You were not attacked, you were not belittled, you were not "hunted down by keyboard warriors." If you see people joining a server to answers questions you were asking and responding to comparisons to the Inquisition, a bloc that displayed an interest in forcing people to delete their nations and disband their alliances and wanted to kill the game as "being hunted down by keyboard warriors" then I am sorry you feel that way. You weren't hunted down or attacked.

I'm more making it clear that this isn't because you've been mistreated or bullied, and that you're not a victim here. You repeatedly went "We don't want more wars" and when you had a situation where you were offered no more wars, you instantly went "I want no more wars after WE win"

I'm in T$, I'm always winning, baby.

Ronny, buddy, you're really getting hit hard by old age. We've said it in the embassy, and we've said it in your own DoW, you don't get to treat Duck Hunt like it was a defensive war, you literally admitted for everyone to hear that you were going to attack us. You got preempted, because you were slow and revealed what you were planning. You don't get to whine and play the victim card.

The Syndicate, you attacked us in a curbstomp in Knightfall, and we let it go. The Syndicate, you attacked to try to isolate us while we were fighting another war at the start of IQ and we let it go. The Syndicate, you attacked us during Quack, and again we let it go. The Syndicate, you set up a curbstomp with Rose to attack us yet again. I am now officially done letting it go. I know you're old and half in the retirement home, so let me remind you. Knightfall was three and a half years ago. If you're holding a grudge over that, I find amazing that you can even remember back then, way to stay upset about something that was literally NINE global wars ago. You were attacked in IQ, for a grand total of five days, and were already basically not fighting, up until the point that Grumpy did what it almost always does, and stops fighting and let people pull people down to get at you months into the war. You're upset because you got bruised in a 5 day war two and a half years ago? We attacked you during Duck Hunt, let us remind you because you love playing victim here, you publicly admitted you were going to attack us first. That was YOUR offensive war, you got pre-empted during that war, you don't get to claim the victim card there. You got hit with Rose, and were defeated for the first time by us since Knightfall which was two and a half years apart. You had sat pretty and untouched since NPO's Last Time, and finally got defeated. "We were practically untouched for two and a half years, this is a defeat in a war that we can't forgive or forget." SRD, I would say I expected better of you, but that'd be a lie, I have to admit, and I'm not in the business of lying on the forums. This isn't a war because you're tired of us attacking you, this is a war because your feelings are hurt, and you want revenge. That's fine, you can come out and say it, everyone knows it. You're not the victim here, your ego is bruised and you want to soothe it, just say that.

Blackwater is a threat to you and your extensions? That's wild. Who are you again? It's a bit hard to be a threat to someone you hardly even know exists. This is the remnants of SK, right?

I have a small brain and am half illiterate. I was confused for longer than I care to admit, how dare you.

Rome kneels in respect for the King In The North. Roma will always keep an estate by the beach open and waiting for our northern brothers and sisters, if they ever wish to bask in the Mediterranean sun. To be serious though, well done Zygon. Enjoy your retirement, you've more than earned it after five years of excellence. It's been a pleasure to be your Ally the last year plus, and I hope to remain a friend in the years to come. To Ataxia, I've heard nothing but good whenever folks talk about you. I look forward to working with you, and I look forward to seeing you lead House Stark to many more years of excellence and class.

It's a tried and true method, I haven't seen it fail yet.

"going to BECOME" Sips Tea

The Titanic theme always makes me laugh, partly because I think of the Titanic recorder meme.

Rome mourns the loss of it's wet friends. Blood was shed on both sides on multiple occasions, but Rome has great respect for the warriors of the deep. May Neptune take care of your watery grave, and may you swim in the water of Elysium.

I hear Arizona is beautiful, you should check it out.

Hey, who is that person with the Roman flag as his profile picture? Damn they're good looking.

This is the greatest of all days. I get to march to war with my brothers and sisters under Roma, and best of all, I get to fight alongside @KiWilliam. Roma marches alongside the Legion to war.

I'll be keeping a very close eye on this alliance. You better not screw this up and bring disgrace to the name.

So let's get this straight. Camelot, the rank 7 alliance in Orbis, decided it wanted to attack the entire upper tier of The Lost Empire, the rank 21 alliance in Orbis, for the sake of a treasure from what I have heard? Camelot, the alliance that is known for its excellent decisions, and its superb leadership, has decided to use its 109 members, to attack an alliance with 52 members, for the sake of a treasure that will despawn in what, a month and a half? Camelot, whose colour bloc is Maroon, and gives them $33,994 per turn, and $407,928 per day, wants to go to war over a treasure that will, if I am not mistaken in my math, give them a bonus of 2% in revenue per day? If they get all three, that'll be a whole 3.46% bonus revenue Now I'll admit ladies and gentlemen, I am by no means an expert at maths, but something about this feels like it's not very friendly towards ROI. What do I know though, Camelot has always been known for its great decision making, like when it was a very vocal supporter of IQ, and then tried to switch sides after the war and act like the victim. Camelot has ALWAYS been known for its good decision making, like when it decided uninvited to join Guns and Roses and Duck Hunt for the sake of.... what was the reasoning again Gorge? Preserving the balance of the game? I'm sure it was some great reason and it was worth the 84 billion damage you took in Guns and Roses and 37 billion you took in Duck Hunt. After all, Camelot has ALWAYS been known for its great decisions, like when it funneled massive amounts of cash into both Arthur and Gorge's nations, to build them up. Just taking a quick look at the CTOwned war page, it already seems clear that Arthur, Epi, and Gorge have once AGAIN proved their brilliance, as they've already taken 1.6 billion damage in this war. I'm sure this is going to be over VERY quickly, lads, and this will absolutely end in you making more money off of the 2% to 3% from the treasures than you spent on this war. I once again bow to the brilliance of the leadership of Camelot, you all are truly a shining beacon of excellence in this game.

You don't. You have to wait for them to naturally decrease. Welcome to a global war in Orbis.

As the Imperator of Imperium Romanum, with the blood of Caesar and Augustus running through my veins, I declare that Imperium Romanum, and all true Roman citizens denounce this false Targaryen. We of the Imperium know no Targaryen, save for @Xi Jinping. You may claim the name and the flag of a true Targaryen, but you do not compare to the ally of Rome, and we await the day you and your false house shall be torn from your keeps, and receive justice as usurpers, and thieves. Xi, your allies in Roma stand behind you, as we have for a thousand years. We know the truth in the Eternal City, and we shall not heed the words of these false claimants to the line of Aegon.

Nah, it was the entire game being threatened by Quack that got us rolled in GW16, let's get that straight. As for the rest of them, it's depressing as a former high gov member of tCW to watch the alliance get run into the ground by people's pride and incompetence. I give props when an alliance does well, and when an alliance does a thrice d@mned nose dive because the leadership doesn't know how to make and or maintain treaties, and it doesn't know how to retain its members, and how to defend its members. You just have to look at the exodus of people fleeing the alliance to see how poorly it is run these days. The current leadership of the alliance likes to put a lot of the blame on previous leaders, but they inherited a strong enough alliance and then ran it right into the dirt. I'm not treating a former GW opponent poorly, I'm pointing out people I served in an alliance with are bloody incompetent and should be ashamed of the way they've handled things. It's easy to mix the two up if you don't pay attention to details though, so I don't blame you.

Whoever did the cover art did an awesome job, so props to them. On the other hand, my condolences to literally everyone involved in this, this can only go great for everyone. Special props to tCW for being able to lose Weebunism due to their own incompetence, and then complaining about how they didn't like being in Swamp and were forced into it, only to then turn around and make another bloc with like, half of the alliances of Swamp and Weebunism. Very original you guys. The tenure of RightHonorable as Prime Minister is truly starting off gloriously.