Two guys walk into a bar...

[JR95 0]

And they ran into me. Hi, I'm JR95. It's great to meet new people. How are things in SK?

[Callum 287]

shotty being the first guy.

 

 

 

Things are going well. all things considered. how about on your end?

[JR95 0]

Doing what we can to secure a better future for all of us.

[JR95 0]

Where do you all see the political landscape postwar?

[JR95 0]

Interesting.

 

My perspective is that I think the other side of the treaty web is too consolidated for that side to effectively split. "ParaCovenant" is firmly married so there interests are to be seen for months to come. VE is tied to too many alliances for it to switch things up. Rose is an interesting one. I am still new to the geopolitics so my views may have some flaws. I think Rose could try to wiggle its way across the web, or at the least, do something new. However I think they would definitely need to drop their ambitions to be a top player. They just do not have the pillars needed to maintain such a position so that aspiration is a dream at best. Looking at the treaty web, we're in a bipolar world. One side is effectively being pummeled which is very interesting to me because a bipolar system, when war is evident, will more than likely lead to a unipolar world in which one side, if not diplomatically, militarily can assume a global position. Granted all of that is being held together with interests that do change as time goes on. We shall see where this takes us. I am very interested in seeing where it takes SK.

 

Speaking of diplomacy, I am curious as to the MDPs you have. I've read Partisan's lengthy posts of a FA overview/history and I read about the things SK has done in the past. 

[SoS 245]

I think global wars are by nature always bipolar, so ultimately politics will always end up there.

What specifically interests you about SK's past? There's so many interesting points.

[JR95 0]

I think global wars are by nature always bipolar, so ultimately politics will always end up there.

What specifically interests you about SK's past? There's so many interesting points.

Indeed. It's always interesting to see how the bipolar system breaks down, if it does at all.

 

The only thing that really sticks out is the attack on VE. What was the thought process behind that? Was VE the top alliance at the time?

[SoS 245]

They were on their way to the top, at that point I think. I wasn't in gov, but I'd guess the thought process was preventing them from gaining dominance.

[JR95 0]

How did the plan leak that caused Rose to join the opposing side? 

[SoS 245]

I don't know.

[JR95 0]

Unfortunate.

 

I am glad to see that things are in place to avoid that happening again. What did you think of the last war, especially with the stats that were released? Anything that surprised you or met your expectations?

[Callum 287]

Pretty much sums up my opinion on the whole thing.

MORE ATTENTION FOR ALPHA PLEASE.

 

STOP BULLYING ALPHA YOSO

 

OOC ATTACK

 

Am I doing this right?

 

Edited July 2, 2016 by Callum

[Wilhelm the Demented 40]

Hey guys! How is everyone doing?

Missed fighting alongside you guys this last war, but happy to see your alliance is looking very good right now.

If you guys could change one thing about the last war, what would it be?

[SoS 245]

The only downside I see is allies were on both sides of the war. Planning, FA, and execution were beautiful as usual. Ya got some mad skills over there, and I'm not one to nitpick a masterpiece. Do you view this as cementing your hegemony?

I'd prefer an analysis of SK's current/future position. Having saved our strength (for a change) where do you see that strength might be well spent between now and the next global?

[Wilhelm the Demented 40]

Yeah, allies being on both sides seems like an ever-expanding problem lately. It's always unfortunate, and I hope we can avoid things like that in the future (but it seems inevitable beyond drastic political shakeup).

I appreciate the compliment though, I was very impressed with how well our allies performed this war and even though it's not our best go-around I was impressed by the Syndicate's ability and willingness to mobilize after months of bitter skrimishing with Alpha.

This didn't have anything to do at all with establishing a hegemony. We just read the writing on the wall and saw historical rivals consolidating power, which was most likely going to be used against us.

Frankly, this was a bit of a Hail Mary pass. We didn't honestly know if we would win or lose (re: the Leeroy Jenkins reference in our DoW), we just didn't want to sit around and wait for the odds to look any worse. If we had to go down, we wanted to go down on our terms.

Moving forward, we aren't really interested in leading a hegemony or anything, especially if it means repeating the same old cycle from the last few wars.

We want to return the favor and play a more supportive role for our allies, if not find some other way to break up the patterns and monotony of current affairs, while maintaining our own security, obviously.

Regarding SK: Ideally I wouldn't want to impose any conflicts of interest on you again. And not just for my personal background but because both of our alliances have a significant historical background that's worth respecting.

I can only speculate for my part, I know there is a bit of a trust issue because of the leaks in the lead up to this conflict but I don't think they're unsalvageable as long as we can build solid comms and really work together, but that requires a common goal.

I know for certain we won't be imposing any sort of hegemony moving forward, and we're just as tired of the bipolar politics as everyone else. We didn't really expect to come out of this war as well as we did either, to be honest, we are just kinda winging it right now and trying to get a feel for the new political landscape.

So, I guess I'm going to flip the question: What part do you think SK will play in politics moving forward?

Where would you like to see the Syndicate in relation to your goals?

[Wilhelm the Demented 40]

Happy fourth! (Can't hold the delayed response against you, it's been a busy week already )

Hate to hear you had some issues getting the recognition you deserved but I appreciate your patience and willingness to work through the issue.

It's kind of crazy how much the treaty web has changed and tightened up in the last war. Kinda makes me wish we could find another invasion community to mix things up!

You guys getting involved in both sides last war would have definitely mixed things up for sure! But I'm just as happy to see that you guys took the opportunity to comsolidate more strength, you're looking really solid right now. The 300mil made a significant impact on our rebuild, I'm sure. We really appreciate the help!

Regarding your FA: In think everyone is feeling things out right now. So I'm interested in seeing what our two alliances are willing to do for each other moving forward. I know for certain that we're positively over the bipolar power dynamic, and are interested in keeping things fresh and interesting so the game continues to be enjoyable, not only for us but everyone else that plays. I think that's something we both definitely have in common.

Any thoughts on what's happening to the GPA?

I think this may have potential to become a standard post-war practice.

[Mikey 445]

I really dont understand this hate for GPA frankly. I get why Mensa attacked them, though even without the threat of them at #1 I personally don't think anyone needs a reason to attack anyone else, its a game after all. I just don't get why some people seem so viscerally opposed to neutrality or think they are ruining the game. Aside from contributing to the market, I don't think their presence here really effects anything one way or another when they aren't at the top.

Edited July 6, 2016 by Mikey

[Callum 287]

its really easy to play the market. super easy..

 

And we're pretty small.  if a AA like GPA continued to grow. theres nothing that would/could stop them from controlling the market indefinitely. and once they start doing that, they'd be way to powerful to stop.

 

Kinda like Nazi Germany. if Mensa hadnt done something, GPA would have taken over Poland.

[Mikey 445]

I get why mensa attacked them. I don't care about that - hell I dont think anybody really needs a good reason to do anything in this game, and I bet GPA would make nice and juicy raid targets anyway. There just seem to be some people who are super offended about their very existence and the idea of neutrality, which is odd to me. But then I've never been one to get super worked up over the game in any capacity.

[Wilhelm the Demented 40]

I don't get the hate for neutrality, either. Seems a bit smallminded to me.

I think this war is primarily to keep them down on the rankings (actually, now that I think about it, that might be where the disgust comes from: GPA didn't actually earn the number one spot).

That and they are fat targets. Infra heavy, rich, and inexperienced. Keeps the market in check, and keeps GPA from running away into the whale tier. Combined with the fact that Mensa was already damaged from war, the risk/reward of it all sort of balanced out.

I know they're neutral and all, but this just seems like the price for a solid year of peace (which is a rare precedent in this game).

[Roland Deschain 0]

*Sits down to join the palaver*

 

Seems to be a fair assessment, everyone else is crawling their way out of their mud hovels after a particularly devastating war and they all go looking for the number one beneficiary. That they are a soft target only helps that along. I definitely do get the neutral hate though. It isn't that they offend anyone directly, or take resources from the active players, or even could be a haven for a future threat to brew. It is about the smug response that just because they didn't engage with anyone they didn't deserve to be the target, as if non-participation was a right. Instead of saying "you were our friends", or "we offer something to the community that you have benefited from", it was from step one a jump to stating how the aggressors were intrinsically wrong. The fact that you could confidently expect that response without even looking would be enough to rile up some ill feelings.

 

That said, would hate to see them go, and hope that they take a more active approach to their neutrality in the future.