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Treaties

Let's talk about treaties - the bread and butter of politics, as it stands, second-only to IRC in terms of importance if you care to be relevant or "plugged in" at all. It strikes me as amazing to see how times have changed since I started out here. By way of example - when we started our alliance, you could still get by without getting raided or rolled without treaties. We were offered a protectorate by VE, but actually turned it down, it just wasn't necessary and the idea of having a Big Brot

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The Unjust Path and Perspective

I have never, and I never will, apologize for my part in GW4 on the side of the Unjust Path. I stood with my allies in the face of poor odds and a great deal of propaganda because they were my allies, irregardless. That said, it's been noted more than a few times how quick most of us survivors let the war go and just moved on with life after the fact, and I'd like to explain why that was. Part of it was fear - without a doubt. Most of us figured ES & BLEU would be happy to get rid of us per

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Standards for Leadership in This Era of Cybernations

I've long been a believer in the mantra that leadership should be distinct from the Average Joe; that the people running politics - big and small and in between - should have class, civility, and respectability. If you think these are just buzzwords, you're part of the group I sincerely hate. I joke a fair bit that there should be a test before you become an alliance leader judging your ability to stop and think out what you have to say before you say it but it's not a joke. People bemoan how f

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Regarding Pre-Karma Misconceptions

Specifically I'd like to address the misunderstanding about "Bastion" as well as "The Hangout." Bastion was an effort that began when ochocinco, then Umbrella, myself and Delta1212 ran into each other while trying to establish a bloc to defend Gre from what we felt was an imminent attack by NPO. The ties between Citadel and SF were minimal - through FARK only - and it would've hindered our options in entering significantly, as well as made communication and organization that much harder. The bl

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Regarding Motive & Morality

I will start by assuming two things I think will hold true against any counter-argument, that is: That all players play by a personally-defined, subjective code of morality. That their actions are motivated by and justified under this code. I'm writing this in part to collect my thoughts on what makes CNers tick, and what is appropriate (morally) considering the nature of CN. On Hivemind and False Thought The first thing I'd like to address is something I feel is evident in the nature

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Open Discussion: Past, Present, and Future of CN

I do love over analyzing the culture on this game (compared to NS, et al it is fascinating), so I thought I'd open up kind of an open thread for what made CN enjoyable in the past (and didn't) and similarly what does it for you now v. then. What makes you happy to play, what doesn't? Obviously I think the political aspect is going to be a heavy part of the discussion, because (necessarily) most of the people who visit the forums get most of our entertainment out of it - and certainly we should

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Open Discussion: CN Game Mechanics - Present/Future

So as to not continue cluttering up the discussion of political/social factors past/present/future in the other entry I'm opening this one up strictly to core game mechanics. The two main things that have been identified as needing change are: Foreign Aid System Nation Strength Calculation Suggestions So Far - Change how much tech/land contributes to NS after a certain NS point - Remove the ability to send tech at all, and institute tech degradation where the more tech you have, the

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Not A CN Post

... but kinda. It's relevant to CN, but more just something I found insightful. Link. The eleven lessons explored in the documentary are: Empathize with your enemy Rationality will not save us There's something beyond oneself Maximize efficiency Proportionality should be a guideline in war Get the data Belief and seeing are both often wrong Be prepared to reexamine your reasoning In order to do good, you may have to engage in evil Never say never You can't change human na

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Myths and Modern CN

The title is broad and you could probably write a decent sized paperback on it if you took the time, so I'm only going to address a few that crop up fairly often. They're the assumptions, generally commonly accepted things that are - in my opinion - founded on bull. 1) Disbandment. Might as well start with the big one. The myth generally goes as follows; disbandment is immoral, because it's what Q did and it's done when you gang bang alliances with vastly superior numbers, and it serves no pu

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Missing the Point by a Mile

I think the point that was originally behind the "War = Good" equation has been lost. I mean, I really do. What makes war on CN good? There's nothing inherently good or fun about doing the same battery of attacks day after day. So why is it commonly accepted that it's good? Well, for one thing there's political upheaval, and that is fun. Rearranging sides like LEGOs and such is a blast to do and to watch, but all change isn't exactly good. UJW rearranged the sides - into BLEU and Q - and that w

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GATO/UPN War Stats

This is limited because I didn't really have the time to check multiple times. Everything is dated and taken straight from in-game: Nation Strength Starting: GATO: 7,730,229 UPN: 3,995,145 GOD: 4,617,109 Jan 21: GATO: 7,703,992 (-26,237) UPN: 3,760,436 (-234,709) GOD: 4,619,225 (+2,116) Jan 22: GATO: 7,524,693 (-179,299) UPN: 3,423,459 (-336,977) GOD: 4,504,958 (-114,267) Jan 23: GATO: 7,215,171 (-309,522) UPN: 3,283,435 (-140,024) GOD: 4,457,702 (-47,256)

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Dear Advertisers

If you put horrible, snotty children in your advertisements, I will not buy your product. Thanks.

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Class Isn't Underrated

"I put no stock in religion. By the word religion I have seen the lunacy of fanatics of every denomination be called the will of god. I have seen too much religion in the eyes of too many murderers. Holiness is in right action, and courage on behalf of those who cannot defend themselves, and goodness... and by what you decide to do every day, you will be a good man - or not. " "A king may move a man, a father may claim a son. But remember that, even when those who move you be kings or men of po

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Casual Nonsense

I love the 4th of July - it's right up there with Halloween tied for first in my list of favorite holidays. Guns, fireworks, BBQ, more fireworks, more guns, racing... all to celebrate a glorious and bloody revolution against an absolute monarch that overstepped his reach. What's not to love? But perhaps more than usual, you hear the passive assertion that the military is "protecting our freedoms" around this time of year. It's always bugged me though, it seems to be based on a false premise - w

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Another Casey Anthony Post

To say holy crap I give no !@#$ about the Casey Anthony trial and don't understand why any of you do. The kid was irrelevant to humanity and so is her mom. More relevant and useful people died today, and will have died tomorrow, and no one is crying about that.

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An Upstarts Guide

As apparently I'm the new ELITE I feel it's high time I wrote a bit about starting an alliance, and some general things you ought to keep in mind. I'll start by talking a bit about mindset, as that's really important. First off, never do this unless you plan to enjoy yourself. This is a game. Games are meant to be enjoyed. If it becomes a chore, fark around until it's a game and fun again. The politics can be really grating, you'll learn to deal with it, it's better to know beforehand though.

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American Vaudeville

Bin Laden deserved to die. He deserved no trial, nor anything else. He invoked war to describe his struggle with the West and he was treated as a combatant; which is to say, he was shot in the head. On this point, I don't think many will disagree. But our reaction here in the U.S. last night left me with some serious disquiet, watching the crowds grow in DC, NYC and elsewhere. The cheering and chanting didn't inspire me, it reminded me of Damascus, Tripoli, Kabul and the countless rallies sinc

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Alliance State of Mind

I was talking to a couple of people last night about something that happened back in 07 and in the course of retrieving the threads involved so we could all have a laugh about it, I noticed something; everyone in the thread was mostly being cool to each other. There was some nastiness, but it was subtle. It reminded me of when LUE disbanded, and NPO gov turned out to hail them and remark on how the fighting had brought them closer. Seems to me you just don't see that anymore, and it's a shame,

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[RL] Arrogance and Preconditions

For a change of pace, I'm going to talk about something from real life instead of CN. I'm an American, and one of the many issues that came up in our elections was the idea of talks without preconditions. I hadn't even heard of the idea prior to this, so it was news to me that there were people that actually supported it. Preconditions before talks is exactly what it sounds like - before we talk to a country, we demand they meet so and so conditions. Before we even talk. The excuse given is tha

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