Again, I'm breaking out of my shell (I'm sure you enjoy these moments, though I'm sure they're boring enough to ignore if I'd have to be honest
).
Well, I have a few points to address here.
First off, as to the comment of us having no 'spine' and choosing the wrong ways... we have sought out since the start, Zhil is correct, to be an honourable alliance. To not cheat, backstab, farm, nor promote any of these activities. Perhaps I am idealistic; I have always believed that it is not impossible to do well and be a strong player/alliance without any shady deals going on. I would like to quote a cheesy favourite here:
"Opportunities for battle abound, yet only some lead to victory, the general's true goal. The military is a weapon that need not always be wielded. This is the wisdom of nonaction." - Sun Tzu
Whilst boring, it is something that I agree is needed at times. You see, whoever has been at each others' throats, we did to a large extent look to the happiness of our members. Unfortunately at the beginning we were planning a more even-sided war. The folding of Eclipse did not promote such. It became apparent that it was not to be a truly fair war from the start. However, our members' reactions when we hit their galaxies when non-allied members (unfortunate aspect, but nothing we could do as some had formed galaxies before we'd made agreements and we were hardly ones to deny this, especially since initial interest in R10.5 was low) were furious. Their galaxy members would be hostile to the triad, yet would be furious when they were retalled upon. How, then, would they react, if we were to declare a proper war? Furthermore, this disagreed with our 'principle of honour'. I will always fight to say that one can be honourable and still an aggressive and good warrior at the same time.
As such, we chose not to propose war and our instincts were to not go to war at all, and further look for ways out of boredom and stagnation.
TomKat was right; it was not over. The hostile were still fighting well and denying us roids, still some of them doing quite well if you're to know. I find this extremely impressive BTW, and I respect you all greatly for fighting in the face of such opposition.
I have no reason to believe that this action of Phraktos is more to secure their winning the round than anything else. I was told as much tonight. I was also told that they declared war on us because they had heard 'rumours' that we would not back down from FAnG. Nor would we have backed down from Phraktos, yet this was the perceived notion. I do agree that it will mean the remaining 12 days will be far less than stagnant; however, it is the manner in which it was adapted which I disrespect, not the action in trying to stir things up. I do not believe it was done for the right reasons.
It is true that there has been dissent between Phraktos and FAnG since the beginning of the round. We, indeed, enjoyed working with all of our allies. There were rough spots with both; such happens when you are allied.
At any rate, the fact of the matter is this. Phraktos declared war on FAnG, and whilst not openly announcing it on MISTU, launched on us as well. They gave no decent notice, which I find completely dishonourable (apologies, but I do). Now, our members have been hit, and they will not, whether landed on or not, wish to stay neutral in this (after all, if we run these alliances for anything but our members, what are we doing here?). Therefore, we will, indeed, side with FAnG.
Before I end this abyssmally long post, I wish to say one more thing. With regards to us having no 'spine', I daresay it is more difficult at this point to side with FAnG, and more cowardly, less full of spine, than to side with everyone else and go against them, as I'm sure we could make a big impact if we did so. As for what decisions we have made earlier in the round, well, I'm not quite sure what you mean. At the beginning, we sided with FAnG and then Phraktos because we were looking for alliances who were serious about playing the round and would give us a nice 'serious' group of allies so that we could focus on building our alliance. You must remember, at first count, polls for participation in R10.5 amongst our recruits was very low. We had no tech to speak of (our techs have built everything from the ground up), and we had no idea of being a 'big alliance' (not this round at least
. So, you see, we didn't have a firm ground to stand on. As it happens, we worked very hard, members, officers, and HC alike, and due to the skill and devotion of our member base (some surprises in there, have faith in n00bs once in awhile BTW
, sometimes they're not as they seem), we did better than we had hoped for, and grew. I believe that we have done well this round, and we have done our best to make our members happy. I don't see how we have failed in any estimation, despite the outcome.
Signing off for several thousand more posts,
adastra
MISTU IA/Internal Affairs HC