Aloop

[quote name='Joe Stupid' timestamp='1340857882' post='2999072'] Biggest crock of !@#$ i've ever heard. We tried stopping this the moment we were told. In fact Taut's decision was enhanced by the general "Meh" we received from you when we tried to mediate. [/quote] You're full of it. So full of it. You remember when I proved it to everyone in Rok? Seems to me you might need some reminding of why you declared our embassy a threat to the security of your alliance, and banned everyone from reading it. Remember that? Don't run your mouth if you can't back it up.

This is awesome. Branimir, round two?

This was actually pretty funny. Well played, sir, well played.

[quote name='Ardus' timestamp='1340601176' post='2995427'] The Xippy doth protest too much, methinks. [/quote] The Ardus would drown the stage with tears, and cleave the general ear with horrid speech.

[quote name='Chief Savage Man' timestamp='1340599699' post='2995363'] Man, this is going to be 'that front', isn't it? [/quote] No doubt.

o/ Deinos! Great to have you guys on board, maybe get some VE next?

[quote name='ChairmanHal' timestamp='1327889913' post='2909955'] 3. A bloc that has been around for a period of *years* and should have had solid war plans with multiple contingencies available as well as a larger diplomatic golf bag than Mj instead got spanked and sent home to mom. You were totally and completely outclassed and frankly there was nothing left to prove as far as Mj was concerned. It doesn't take any "special" or inside knowledge of SF (current or otherwise) to see what happened. There should be no trash talking on Xiph's part. There is no arguing what happened or insult. I actually wish you luck because based on what I and many others saw in this war, you god damn well need it. [/quote] Congrats Hal, Mj sure is doing so much better than SF these days. I'm pretty sure we're free to trash talk the bloc that couldn't survive being on the winning side of a rather lopsided beatdown. Furthermore, Valhalla shouldn't be insulting SF about war performance, given how poorly you performed. Thank goodness you had numbers, right?

My apologies bcort. I'll seek to remedy that post-haste.

[quote name='Kittenland' timestamp='1324915748' post='2886621'] Very scary Aloop. [/quote] What's scary is how many people believe that I would actually put my WC in my nation bio >_<. Of course, it kept 3 BNs from trying to spy intel or destroy money for an entire round, so I'd say it's one of the most effective and original moves I've ever been able to pull in a war. At least bcortell has the courtesy to beat me down properly. [/shoutout] Edit: Seriously. How could anyone honestly believe I'd tell my opponents what my WC was? Mind boggling.

[quote name='Regent of Omerta' timestamp='1324558708' post='2884032'] Running from the buzzsaw? [/quote] No, just having more fun fighting a competent alliance. BN's making Valhalla and Asgaard look pretty amateurish.

[quote name='Inquisitor Tolkien' timestamp='1324097602' post='2880306'] 1) My professors tend to be quite liberal in their outlook. After all, I've listened in on Nye before when he stopped by for a lecture (The Future of Power), and I also have Robert Pastor as a prof. Good times, good times. [/quote] I am incredibly jealous of you at this moment. Incredibly.

[quote name='Inquisitor Tolkien' timestamp='1324093162' post='2880257'] As another student of International Relations, I am quite pleased by your post. However, I feel you have been unnecessarily wordy, especially with the introduction. Instead, the more traditional theories of Morganthau or Kissinger, regarding balance of power politics and equilibrium, seem to be more relevant to your conclusions. I also disagree with your assertion that uni-polarity is necessarily less stable. I'd also cite Nye and the merits of soft power in CN, given the relative diffusion of power between many alliances and the overwhelming importance of treaties and inter-alliance alliances/blocs. Political realism [i]never[/i] provides a complete picture of the world. Especially for a game like Cyber Nations, where security is not automatically the #1 priority of every alliance, and where there is really nothing at stake beyond pixels. [/quote] Without a doubt, best post in the topic yet, and I'd like to add a few thoughts about some of the major points. - Agreed. Aeros, while your effort in introducing the topic is appreciated, the introduction to an essay should not comprise so much self-reference, even if it is just an opinion piece. - As someone who studied under a Morgenthau fanantic, I'd certainly agree with Inquisitor T. Since you spent so much time discussing the power balance and effects of the creation of XX, your sources are a bit off-topic. - In regards to CN, a uni-polar state has seen many different approaches. Contrasting the period of WUT or 1V/Q surpremacy to the period of SuperGrievances dominance, we can see that the stability of a uni-polar system is greatly dependent on the main actors in the power structure. - Nye's theories on soft power works well for CN, especially when the game devolves into one of the mud-slinging contests that begins a number of months before the large majority of wars. While making alliances is important, goodwill and friendship in non-allied alliances have far-reaching benefits. - Insofar as Aeros' argument concerning survival, it is rather pointless to debate. Given that eliminating every single component of a state (which would obviously destroy the state in real life) has no effect on the existence of the state, the survival of an alliance is guaranteed so long as Planet Bob exists. Besides, following the Hobbes and Locke theory for the raison d'être of a state (The state exists to protect the property of its citizens), the only alliances in CN that could claim to been successful in their existence as a state would be certain neutral alliances, like TDO, WTF, Gray Council, or the Order of the Black Rose. By avoiding warfare altogether, neutral alliances are doing to best job protecting the property of their citizens. Aeros: As to your theory about the formation of XX being the cause of the war, I think you're looking a little too deeply for a meaning that isn't there. Given the nature of the treaty web, the XX alliances were merely formalizing an attachment that previously existed through individual treaties. I think you'd find a more interesting set of actions to analyze if you considered the leadership personalities, forcible political isolation, and the historic tendancy to carry grudges for near-eternity.

[quote name='NATOrounds' timestamp='1323806275' post='2876834'] Actually your theme is Harry Potter. [/quote] No. Just no.

[quote name='Belisaurus' timestamp='1323723644' post='2875566'] Even his own alliance members are ripping him here (unless my sarcasm detector needs some new batteries). [/quote] Your sarcasm detector seems to be working just fine.

[quote name='MaGneT' timestamp='1323763377' post='2876355'] No, they're not. I'd even regard them as IC, to some extent. Harry Potter is a known theme of their alliance. Didn't they (... jeez ... how am I going to do this ...) migrate to Planet Bob from a HP forum? I'm pretty sure that's the case. If that's the case, here's a list of things it's no different than: [list] [*]Fungicide 2012, going after MK [*]Criticizing GOONS for acting like they're on SA [*]Make mocking references to the Dark Side when fighting NSO [*]Laughing at the people in OP and TOP for being so zealous about someone named "Johan" [*]Laugh at a bunch of people pretending to be vikings in a bloc [*]Telling a Protoss-themed alliance to construct more pylons [/list] Do any of those things strike you as "pathetic OOC swipes"? We see alliances get poked at for their theme all the time. GOD and their apologists are the only people who have a victim complex pathetic enough to feign offense at this. Pay attention. You're smarter than that, WC. [/quote] Pretty sure it's a waste of time to point this out, but: Harry Potter is not a theme of GOD. Our alliance has had far more people come to us from CN (myself included) that any other source. Most of us spend a fair bit of time linking to Imgur on IRC. Does that make Imgur our theme? To your points: - They're the Mushroom Kingdom. An IC name. Don't know how you got an OOC attack. - Fair enough. I'll stick to making fun of their WCs. - New Sith Order? Yeah, pretty sure that's another IC reference. - TOP has long "worshiped" Johan, and made reference to him repeatedly in IC forums. - Valhalla, Ragnarok, and Asgaard? Again with the IC names. - If they're a Protoss themed alliance, wouldn't that also be IC? If certain persons feel the need to make Neitzche and religion jokes and such, that's cool. That's IC enough. But Harry Potter has not been at any point the theme of the Global Order of Darkness.