Crymson
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Posts posted by Crymson
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Once TOP became joined at the hip with MK, wasn't it always likely that TOP and IRON would drift apart? To me the moment I saw TOP sign with MK and it was clear there was a tight bond there, I figured TOP's relationship with IRON was in for a rough ride.
No. For some time, MK and IRON were cordial and worked productively together, as their goals---most notably the Winter War---were in sync. It was only after the Dave War that divergence occurred.
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How do you feel about IRON and our treaty failure
We were not given any real chance to address IRON's grievances; it was clear to us from the start that the intention of the Q&A in which we participated at IRON's request was to provide a reason for them to cancel the treaty. In the end, our government was simply given abrupt, disrespectful demands whose fulfillment was necessary to avoid cancellation. We were unwilling to do so, and so they canceled the treaty. The reasons we were officially given for the cancellation were nonsensical. The affair was, in sum, almost identical to the treatment we received from FOK when that alliance chose to cancel our likewise longstanding treaty. Ironically, FOK's condition in that event was that we cut ties with IRON.
After the cancellation, we were made aware of MCRABT telling what amounted to lies when asked on other forums why IRON cancelled on us.
While I'm fully aware that relationships ebb and flow in this game, I think that we deserved better treatment after all of our years together.
Edit: I edited this primarily in order to fix some errors in sentence structure.
Sup Crymson, been a while. Hows thangs? We still cool, right?
Peace.
Of course.
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Hey bud, long time no talk.
How's life?Life is OK, thanks. How are your rotations going?
I confess to actually liking Coors Original. The other Coors products are terribly though. Just. Plain. Ish.
Getting back to the real question, I meant that as "are they similar to the membership". Would the current gov be a good sample group if someone were to take a poll, are their views similar to the views of membership etc.
Their actions and publicly stated views reflect the priorities and opinions of the membership (unless otherwise stated). Some democracies don't work well, but ours does.
How do you feel about me? :D
Indifferent.
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Do you feel TOP's current government accurately reflects it's membership? Explain.
Do you mean "represents"? Please specify.
Would you give me a voucher for an ice cold beer?
No. But if you want to sample some terrible beer, the Coors factory is only 30 minutes from me.
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What is something most people don't know about TOP?
I don't know. It seems like we have the highest number of advanced degrees per member of any major alliance in the game? Maybe that?
Do you think if we didn't vote to kick Old Guard out of The Citadel, it would of been possible to salvage it and The Citadel might still be around? Umbrella was threatening to leave if Old Guard was kept in, but with Argent having been added, even if they left The Citadel would still of been up one member from what it had originally.
Not a chance. Ramirus destroyed the Citadel. He destroyed its unity and function by being his abrasive, narcissistic self, and destroyed its trust by regularly leaking what was said in private. He was by far the primary catalyst from its transformation to a constantly troubled but tightly-knit bloc to a useless entity.
For those who don't know this about the Citadel, it was a nearly constant headache for everyone involved. We screamed at each other constantly. What was unique about the bloc, however, is that hardly anyone ever took anything personally, and the signatories all remained close despite the virulent bickering. That all changed when Ramirus came around. That guy was a real piece of work.
Crymson is interesting.
What do you think of Nordreich?
I don't have much of an opinion of Nordreich, as I have had very little contact with any of its iterations throughout my time in CN.
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What makes TOP unique.
We've got a great community. Many who have come from other alliances have said that it's the best they've been in. It is such that our member retention rates are excellent; the vast majority of those we lose either end up coming back or quit because they're leaving the game. Most everyone is civil to each other, and we haven't had any notable drama since September of 2007. The fact that we've got so many intelligent folks in the alliance is nice also.
TOP's community is the primary reason why I remain in the game.
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If I ever rejoin TOP could I gain your vote for GM or GC?
That would depend upon who else was running for the position.
What makes TOP unique. How would someone know if they would make a good fit in your community?
If they're friendly, civil, likable, stable, and rational, they'd do well. Intelligence is also a plus.
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Do you think TOP will attack GPA again because of boredom?
You sound like you have the impression that we were responsible for that affair. That is inaccurate. We piggybacked in small part to help NPO, and in much larger part because we (the leadership at the time) judged that involvement in a war would benefit the alliance. There is virtually no chance whatsoever that we would have come into conflict with GPA of our own accord.
Uneducated question FTL.
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Put me on the list of those available to be drafted.
As for coaches I'd suggest that you choose actual reputable/controversial alliance leaders (Xiph, Os, Crym, Ego, Ardus etc.)
PoI: I haven't been a leader in over three years.
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You don't need a 286. If you have windows 7, use the XP emulator. It can run 16 bit applications.
Maybe this will allow me to play TIE Fighter again. It ran fine on XP with VDMSound, but now I have Windows 7 64-bit, and VDM is not compatible.
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Since this is an OOC forum, how do you rank the various AA's at war with TOP with no political bias involved :)
The general consensus is that DT and Sengoku have been the best.
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did you include the IC clause so people don't find out how old you really are?
I wish there were a "like" button on this forum.
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Why have we always been at odds(well a large part of the time anyhow) in game, and how do you feel about me OOC, and gotta throw in the 'would you vouch for me in TOP' line as my curiosity is peaked regarding the answer.
CJ
We've always gotten along well OOC. I think you're a good-natured person.
As for a vouch, you have (as I'm sure you're aware) been a bit hostile toward TOP in the recent past. And anyway, the second question doesn't really relate to the first, as one regards OOC and the other IC. As you've said, we have at times clashed IC.
Inspired by all of the AMAs that have popped up since you posted: if you could get one CN player on here to do an AMA who isn't you, who would it be and why?
Buller is the first who comes to mind, because he would be hilarious. Unfortunately, he no longer plays.
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Oh, apparently I forgot to bandwagon with the obligatory inquiry into your willingness to vouch for inquirers. So, yeah, would you?
Interestingly, TOP was on the short list of alliances I considered joining in the past -- after my exit from VE and then briefly when departing Symphony. Others considered were NoR, MK, and FAN. I like quite a few from TOP and have a long history with the likes of Lum, Megamind, SGC, and the recent convert Ardus, among others. So, yeah, I think I'd enjoy it there, but I am happy with my decisions to have helped found Symphony and then later migrate to DT.
One more: What update to game mechanics would you most like to see?
Regarding the vouch (I should really stop answering these, but I'm a completionist), I don't know you well enough.
As for game mechanics, two come to mind: make war less monotonous and less destructive; and make rebuilding easier. Tech bonus-era war can destroy years of nation-building in a month, and rebuilding is slow and arduous. This drives people out of the game, and also disincentivizes alliances from taking political risks.
FTFY.
Also, is it safe to assume you would vouch for me to join TOP? XD
Ask Voodoo instead.
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1) Do you actually like me? I've never been able to figure this out.
2) In your view, what percent of the blame for Bipolar rests on TOP and what percent rests on Polar?
3)
I have absolutely no plans to leave NPO or try and join TOP because I
<3 NPO, but would I be welcome in TOP if I tried to apply, or have I
burned those bridges more than I realize?4) Who (persons, not alliances) in CN do you most like or respect that is not in TOP or any ally of TOP?
5) Are you looking forward to Duke beating Michigan State in the Sweet 16? :P
6) Obligatory "Would you vouch for me to join TOP?"
I don't have any problem with you personally, and I enjoy speaking with you. We have had some IC collisions in the past, but I'm not one to hold grudges, and I'd rather get along with people than not.
I place the entirety of the blame for Bipolar on Polar. Though others have said that we should never have trusted Polar to begin with, and though the preempt was a big risk (those who ran the enemy coalition have since noted, though, that it would have been a very sound strategic move had we not been backstabbed), Polar's betrayal of us was of the blackest nature and, more importantly, was absolutely unprecedented.
Because you departed the alliance three times already, I do not think that people would respond favorably were you to apply again. This was the reason why your last application was turned down. This is
not to say that you are widely disliked within TOP, but rather that you would only most likely not gain entry.As for the people I most respect outside of TOP or its circle of allies, I'll need to get back to you on that; questions like this require a good amount of thought, and I've got to leave the PC soon.
For the same reason that you would most likely not gain admission to TOP, no, I would not vouch for you.
Dilber: Best or Bestest?
Bestest NPO Emperor of all time, without a doubt.
Treaty someone you aren't tied to in the opposite coalition, drop an existing treaty, which alliances, why?
I'd advocate that we treaty DT. And though I hate to give you a generic answer, I see no reason to drop any of our treaties at this moment.
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What's up Crymson? When you going to come out of retirement and takeover TOP? Also, obligatory, would you vouch for me?
But in all seriousness, after this war is over, where do you see TOP going? Where would you like to see TOP going?
Back to joking, does anyone in TOP really like Megamind????
btw <3 u megamind. :P
I will consider coming out of retirement if I am offered at least a $10,000 monthly salary. A vouch? I would consider it, and I'm sure that some others in TOP who know you well would be willing to do it.
I would like to see TOP go wherever our community feels would be funnest and most beneficial to go. I don't really care much anymore beyond that.
Yes, Megamind is a good guy.
How many times?
8675309.
Your thoughts on Anaheim having the second best record
The Ducks have got a good team, but I don't think it's one to win a championship with. They're a one-trick pony (Perry, Getzlaf, and Ryan), and Beauchemin is their only defenseman worth note. They're doing great in the regular season, but I don't think they'll succeed in the playoffs.
On a related note, the contracts that the team doled out to Perry and Getzlaf were ridiculous and will handcuff the team for some time to come.
Does my posting still irritate you as much as it did when I was in NPO?
Given that I can't remember ever having felt adversarial toward you, I doubt you irritated me as much as you think. No offense.
What made you change your mind about disliking the culture and membership of MK, as well as not wanting any ties with them? Were you against the treaty and do you think TOP still would of done it if they knew it would drive a wedge between you guys and Duckroll+Pillowfort?
After taking a long break following Bipolar in order to detox from this game, I realized that I would have more fun if I stopped letting e-tomfoolery annoy me. There are some unpleasant individuals in MK, but those we interact with are, on the whole, intelligent and reasonable people. I was in favor of the treaty as a means for us to get back onto the political scene and because I respected MK's abilities. I would not go back and change it, as I think we have accomplished a lot together, and---more importantly---we've had a lot of fun together. Besides, that supposed wedge was two years down the line, and there were other factors involved.
Would I vouch for you to join Prototype?
OMG, JC, a bomb!
y so srs?
Never.
What is your avatar of?
My avatar is of Corax of Warhammer 40K fame. It's from the cover art of Deliverance Lost.
How impressive is your vocabulary? Do you think you could beat me in Words with Friends? Would you vouch for me to join TOP?
I've been told that I have a superlative vocabulary! This is probably the result of having begun reading books on a regular basis at an early age. With that in mind, I am surprisingly average at Scrabble-type games.
I [b]have[/b] vouched for you to join TOP.
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would you vouch for me to join top
I don't know you very well, so it wouldn't be possible. I know you're joking, but just to explain to everyone: a vouch for admission to TOP requires that one knows the applicant well enough to say with confidence that he or she would be a good addition to the community. The admissions process's main goal is to ensure that only those who will fit in well gain entrance to the alliance. Contrary to old belief, nation size has never been a factor.
edit: rank the following edmonton oilers ice hockey players, in order of their value (ie, which would you rather own). Taylor Hall, Jordan Eberle, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Nail Yakupov, Magnus Paajarvi, Teemu Hartikainen, Justin Schultz, Jeff Petry, Devan Dubnyk.
Eberle, Hall, RNH, Schultz, Yakupov, Paajarvi, Petry, Dubnyk. Petry and Dubnyk are completely expendable, though I do have a temporary fondness for Petry for his having scored the Wings' tying goal against the Oilers last Friday. I don't know of Hartikainen well enough to make an educated judgment on his abilities.
At one point does telling someone you have no time for them become actually having a little bit of time for them?
Try spinning around 20 times and saying that backwards.
Why do you consider me intelligent and why do you consider me foolish? :v
Also obligatory would you vouch for me joining TOP (I actually am a long time pdox boards resident, everyone else asking it :P)
No time.
What's your favorite nation name? ;)
Yours, of course! An honorary mention goes to Donkey Punch Island, a nation that existed back in 2007.
Sup old timer. At what point do you believe DR started plotting to take down DH?
I don't think DR was heavily involved in any plotting against DH. Plotting of that sort is, in my opinion, not the MO of those alliances (for better or worse). That said, no plotting was really necessary, as a CB was given to AI. NPO was almost certainly the driving force behind AI choosing to push it to war.
You say that Polar refuses to take responsibility for its actions, and whilst I disagree with you I can understand how you get to that opinion BUT I believe that TOP is the single most self-serving alliance on the planet. Do you think that your convenient exit from Q and the flip to the judge, jury and executioner of NPO was the right move in retrospect?
Do you honestly believe that the OOC players behind the names in alliances such as Polar are really that different to those behind the names in TOP?
I do not know anyone in Polar well enough to judge how their OOC personas might be. Some people who are wholly unpleasant in IC discourse are also wholly unpleasant in OOC discourse. On a related note, I don't think anyone in TOP puts forth a pretense of themselves.
I know better than to spend any effort on answering your first question.
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Which people on CN do you like less than me?
Hard to say. When it comes to the people for whom I have no time, I tend to equally have no time for all of them. Rest assured, though, that I don't take the step of actively disliking people online. It's not worth it.
Assuming TOP had no members interested in governing, and you were charged with selecting outsiders to fill the various government positions, who would you choose? Oh, and half of your choices should be from allied/friendly alliances and half from other spheres, however prominent or peripheral.
That would require a lot of thought. I'll get back to you.
What were your thoughts on The Grämlins leaving the Citadel, your real thoughts not the official ones you had to have, unless those were your actual thoughts.
I don't think that I was ever shy about my thoughts on the matter. Ramirus was quite possibly the most consummate narcissist I have ever met, and, as all saw in time, a completely maladroit leader. He was extremely unpleasant to deal with, and he had destroyed all trust and cooperation within the Citadel by openly and regularly leaking information from the Citadel forums and IRC channels to other alliances for his own political purposes. By the time the Gramlins left the Citadel, they were a shell of their old selves. The lion's share of the old members had long since left in disgust, and inactives and Ramirus's cronies constituted the vast majority of those who remained. Given all of the above, nobody in the Citadel was especially broken up about the Gramlins departing, though we were all unhappy that Ramirus had obliterated our relationship with an alliance we had all formerly been close with.
On a related note, one of the Gramlins' prominent members was so disgusted with Ramirus that he gave me all of his logs when he quit the game and told me to do whatever I wanted with them. I'm sure that there is some interesting stuff in there, given that this fellow was very active in government circles, but I've never really looked through the logs. Maybe I will someday, but probably not.
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You have to change on decision your alliance made in the past, what is it, why?
I'll refer here only to my own decisions. The first one that comes to mind is my decision to back the idea of a preemptive strike in Bipolar. TOP's influence amongst the group that participated was enough to make or torpedo that plan, and I wish I'd done the latter. I don't think that there was any way we could have foreseen what happened, but nevertheless I took it as a failure on my part.
Favorite AA?
Least liked AA?
Why for both
Favorite AA? TOP, of course! Aside from that, probably MK. Despite having very little in common in terms of alliance culture, we get along very well and work very productively together.
Least liked AA? Polar. Not because of our historical rivalry or because I necessarily dislike people there---I'm long past that---but rather because a seemingly integral part of that alliance's culture entails refusing to take responsibility for anything the alliance does or for anything that happens to the alliance as a result of what it does. I deplore those who refuse to take responsibility for their behavior and for its consequences.
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Who's got the stanley cup?
This will be a good thread Crymson. Thanks :)
As much as I hate to say it as a Red Wings fan, Chicago and Pittsburgh are the likely favorites at this point. That said, as the NHL has repeatedly shown us, anything can happen in the playoffs. That's one of the things that makes the NHL playoffs, in my opinion, the best postseason in any sport.
When are we going to get around to doing a multiplayer shogun 2 campaign?
Whenever you want. I'll reinstall it for the 5th time. It lasted for two days on my HDD last time before I got bored and deleted it again.
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If someone needs to have on quality to succeed at this game, what would it be, why.
You have to change on decision your alliance made in the past, what is it, why?Aside from the obvious (intelligence, reason, ability to plan, etc.), there are two that come to mind: the ability to admit that you're wrong and accept that there may be others who have more enlightened opinions on some important issues than you do; and a disregard for recognition. The first allows one to make better use in governance of those around, contributes to a more stable community, and removes distance between the leader and the membership; and the second removes the all-too-human tendency to do things purely out of desire for acclaim and the like, and instead directs one toward doing solely what is best for his or her alliance.
There are many others, of course, that are just as important, but those are the first two that sprang to mind.
Who's your favorite alliance of the other side of the fence?
And why?
Edit: type.
That's a hard one, as I long ago lost contact with many people on that side; too, my social circle within this community has continuously shrunk over the past few years as more and more of the old-timers have departed the game. Perhaps DT and Sengoku, on account of the people there whom I like and because they are both capable alliances.
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Do you intend to leave (CN) after this war?
No; I enjoy TOP's community and interacting with others in the game. However, I have not been very active in alliance affairs for some time, and that is likely to continue. I pitched in for war preparations because it was necessary, but the war itself has been almost unbearably boring for me. I found myself becoming bored with the war mechanics during the Dave War, and that has boredom has increased in intensity throughout this war. I almost completely lack the motivation to sign in and run attacks every night; I do so solely out of duty. I suppose it's logical that doing the same thing over and over again in nine wars would get old. I'm glad for those who still enjoy it after so long, but I don't.
Any regrets in between Grudge War and now? Are you happy with where TOP is at this point in time? Why have you always been at least cordial to me while everyone else claims you're a total bitch? Am I just missing your clever sarcasm?
As my controversial contributions during that period have been few or non-existent, no, I have no substantial regrets. Am I happy with where TOP is at the moment? People are having fun and our community is healthy, so I'm satisfied. Other alliances might measure their success mostly in terms of how they're doing politically, but this has not been the case with us for some years.
I'm actually cordial with almost everyone I speak to on a private or semi-private basis. I can be extremely abrasive on the OWF or on bloc forums when politics are concerned---and I have, as you know, criticized you in the past along those lines---but there are few that I don't get along with when we interact in a more direct setting. Though it's not overly concerning to me how many people dislike me---I have good relationships with those who matter to me---I have found that the vast majority who speak ill of me are individuals who don't know me beyond the OWF or what others tell them about me.
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Why are you such a grouch
I'm by no means a grouch. To you, it may seem that way, because you're one of the few people in CN whom I have absolutely no time for. To be completely honest, I think that you are intelligent but very foolish (I would not have said this had you not, in effect, asked what my problem with you is), and your behavior along those lines makes me completely uninterested in interacting with you.
Do you love enderland?
There are many types of love.
Would you vouch me to join TOP?
Nope. No offense, but I wouldn't have anything positive to say about you. That said, I do respect the contribution you make to the game, namely being an abrasive homer. This game needs people of that sort---though not too many---and you play the part well.
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Do you love me?
We get along much better than we did back in the day!
Biggest regret, proudest moment and why.
Proudest moment: posting the joint DoW against Polar in 2008. It was the culmination of a yearlong vendetta between the two alliances, and success was very sweet. The fact that it was a seven-alliance DoW made it that much better.
Biggest regret: Not retiring from government in 2008, and most specifically taking on my last term in late 2009. I was, quite frankly, serving out of addiction from the end of 2009 until my last term in government. I'm sure numerous other leaders and ex-leaders know what I'm talking about: I was simply very protective of TOP, and thought that I was the best man for the job. I was not playing out of fun. My addiction to the game inevitably led to emotional involvement, and it also drove me to make mistakes. I take any position of responsibility very seriously, so I felt guilty about those for a long time.
Who are you? :P
I'm your brother, and the mayor, and his three daughters.
Crymson AMA
in Open World RP
Posted
Hi, quiz.