Bigkats response (albeit without paragraphs) got me thinking a bit about the changes that occurred within frostbite this round, and how our dynamic was completely shifted from one of the dominant powers to something a bit more second rate. The following is merely my take on the matter and does not represent any opinion but my own.
Its odd, there really seems to be no middle ground stance on me. People either absolutely loathe me or think I'm cool *&$%. Put it this way, I definitely did not ask for power in FB, hell I'm not even part of FB in SE anymore. I signed up in the closing days of tLC where I was serving a government position. This was to be a grand military exercise for all of us should our SE team ever need to gear up for a serious conflict. Round start saw us involved in a major war right off the bat (which from what I've read, we really didn't want to be a part of). Through this time I was pretty happy to bumble along as a standard grunt.
Towards the middle of the round, I started to notice more and more inactivity from our government. It was at this time that I began to contact Actorbass and offer suggestions over strategy. He seemed genuinely interested in my take on matters but none of the policies that I suggested ever made it to our forums. Inactivity began to not only plague our government, but also our general member base. We began to bleed out numbers at an uncomfortable rate. Being frostbite, we didn't ever do any active recruiting of outside members. FB is, and always will be about FB.
Fast Forward to several weeks ago. Actorbass and I are having our usual convo on IRC regarding policy and the direction FB should take. In the middle of this chat, he basically says "I'm done with TE, frostbite is yours". From there he made an announcement on our forums and that was that. I was a tad surprised, but set to work. Our set government was inactive, and our forums were dead. Picking new ministers was out of the question as I couldn't tell who was active and who wasn't. So I went it alone, hoping that the general member base would accept the transition. Luckily they did and we moved on without too much issue.
This is where the policy clash begins to take effect. The day I took over was the day the @#(* hit the fan. Apparently Actorbass had crafted a deal with Black regarding an attack on MHA. I was not about to launch an attack with only a few hours notice, and no real way to spread the word fast enough (our mass PM list was a mess). So I stalled and started spreading the word to prepare for war. Honestly I had no intention of hitting MHA. I had been planning to play RE and MHA off against each other, so when Tiberius and I were talking about joint FB/Black strike on MHA I had serious reservations and sent out no attack orders even though I had given general acknowledgment to the plan. Not soon after this, TPF began pounding us and my fears were confirmed.
My controversial decision to attack AI/Echo was based off my deal with MHA/Fark/PU. It had nothing to do with "cowardice" as some people seem to think. The simple fact is that Frostbite is a paper tiger. We have numbers yes, but numbers are nothing when most of those are either absent from our central forums or inactive from the game for weeks at a time. I have a loyal cadre that helps to organize attacks, and fights like hell but at most they number 30... maybe 40. After TPF's ridiculous blitz, we were in no shape for a prolonged nuke engagement with the #1 alliance, so the honor for that attack fell to who it fell. Frostbite was given the task of covering the back door.
In retrospect, Frostbite is an amazing idea. Properly executed with solid leadership and a committed member base from the start, we could truly be a fearsome force. Sadly however, the reality of the round showed a general disinterest from many. However I do believe we have something to be proud of. Despite losing over 50 members due to inactivity deletes and other issues, we still have held onto a top 4 position for our first round.
To all the members who accepted my takeover, and who have helped me out tremendously with the task I was given, I give my thanks.
Caustic
Emperor of Frostbite
