Rafael Nadal

[quote name='kerschbs' date='28 May 2010 - 08:55 AM' timestamp='1275062090' post='2314640'] Hmm, I think we might be seeing the Cat pip with the IAA deathstar soon. I'll even vote for it this time. [/quote] You better. If GATO regains sanction and fails to choose the cat pip, I will do my best to make sure GATO not only loses sanction, but never regains it again. :colbert:

[quote name='Believland' date='22 May 2010 - 05:53 PM' timestamp='1274576004' post='2308591'] Don't worry brother. When you quit, I quit too. If you wanted to have a sincere discussion you would have done your homework first. I gave you a direction to look at for their warring stats. I didn't give you the direct link to it, because I have no idea what it is. I remember skimming past it two? nights ago while looking for a post in their. As to who thinks they're great at warring? Well, Aircastle did make a thread about how great they were at war. Which many people backed in the thread. I also remember a Vanguard member say something along the lines that they were the best at war. As far as TOP being threatened by AC? I doubt they are. I doubt they ever were. When you looked at the stats, AC didn't do much in terms of damage. It was keeping TOP members out of PM which they did, and they did it well too. This is more about getting even, which everyone wants to do in CN. AC, basically flipped *&$( when TOP started some private talks about them. And with AC, having a personal vendetta against TOP for said discussions. Now, this is TOP getting even. TOP also isn't the only ones to do this. Most alliances do, see any NSO/NPO sigs about LUE? Or ever see any posts by CnG and friends about attacking Pacifica? It's all a circle that everyone does, but people cry foul for political gain. So, I hoped that answered your question and gave you some foundation knowledge for the future. I hope to see you around AC. [/quote] If I recall correctly, they made a post pointing out their wars per member (offensive wars declared, to be more specific, I believe). Aircastle was indeed very helpful in keeping TOP members out of peace mode, and that role ended up being their main one of the war. Perhaps another Vanguard member espoused the virtues of Aircastle, but I personally commented on how well they were performing the role bestowed upon them, and how helpful it was. [quote name='Haflinger' date='22 May 2010 - 09:49 PM' timestamp='1274590170' post='2308812'] Who were, of course, in NOIR. [/quote] Aircastle and Vanguard held an ODP. Vanguard was declared upon by TOP. Our membership in NOIR was not necessary.

[quote name='Blue Lightning' date='22 May 2010 - 07:04 AM' timestamp='1274537041' post='2307950'] And yes, I would say it's fairly standard to see a thread started here when an alliance suddenly disappears from the game without warning. [/quote] Then this topic is frivolous, since Aircastle didn't suddenly disappear without warning.

Congrats, I hope Hellion works out for you guys, and I'm glad happy you wanted us to protect you.

Didn't we already have one of these? Regardless, John Ron indicated that Aircastle would be ending after the war and was only staying around for the war. And like a few others here, I communicated with Aircastle members other than John Ron.

Congrats on the re-organization. Shout out to Hefe, who I haven't seen since his Echelon gov't days, specifically Vanguard's war with Legion.

I don't see what all the commotion is about, really. Well wishes to all involved.

[quote name='AAAAAAAAAAGGGG' date='17 May 2010 - 05:08 PM' timestamp='1274141319' post='2301679'] We claimed GOONS first. Should have been quicker. [/quote] Fold into us, then we can have the whole pie to ourselves.

The graph was beautiful, shows us just who we need to roll next, Umbrella, for taking all our tech dealers in GOONS. :colbert:

Hope all goes well between you two in the near future.

[quote name='ChairmanHal' date='07 May 2010 - 06:49 PM' timestamp='1273283331' post='2290893'] You strike me as being someone who step back from the rhetoric and see that the best people to end this mess aren't IRON, DAWN or any of their supporters. Sure we can sit back and watch as Gramlins slowly dissolves like a copper penny in a can of Coke, [b]but the reality is that we both know that a half hour IRC meeting ends the war and I think you can figure out pretty quickly what needs to be said. Gramlins may be stubborn and got themselves in a bad situation, but they aren't stupid or suicidal.[/b] [/quote] At first when I was reading, I was like , then I got to the bolded and I was like . How many meetings do you think have been held?

I've ignored this topic long enough. Let me make this very clear to everybody, I don't want to have to repeat myself: THE TERMS ARE ETERNAL. GOOD DAY, PLANET BOB.

[quote name='Feanor Noldorin' date='03 May 2010 - 05:01 PM' timestamp='1272931299' post='2285538'] My interest has been peaked! [/quote] I claim the right and ability for Vanguard to temporarily reform and take part in this most glorious gladiatorial event.

A worthy hail to Arsenal, who deserves his retirement. I see good things from this new gov't setup and congrats to OS on your election to Sec Gen.

[b]Mostly Harmless Alliance[/b]-3; We on the NPO front in Karma had to bail out your decision to sign a treaty with NPO that had a one year cancellation clause. Beyond that, I can't say you've done anything other than just exist. It's too bad LUE isn't around anymore to hold the mantle for Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy because you don't do anything at all, and thus it's disappointing for you to be the torch carrying alliance for it. [b]Green Protection Agency[/b]- N/A; Neutral [b]New Pacific Order[/b]-4; I've always been juxtaposed to you, and I certainly feel as if you've done harm to the [ooc]game[/ooc] in a few instances, most notably the ONOS situation, in which you demanded the viceroyship of forums paid for by another. There are other decisions I disagree with, but none more vehemently than that. Saying that, you are clearly a leader of your own power structure, and despite the Karma War blunder, and the lead up to Karma, you clearly have the overall talent in membership to be a leader. [b]New Polar Order[/b]-4; Was not a fan of Grub, long before it became widespread, for reasons developed while Shield and/or leading Vanguard. As Grub was leader for most of the time for which this rating is based on, this is the score you've earned. Points for your excellent rebuilding after NoCB, however, I've heard mixed reports on your real fighting ability; thus, no points positive or negative regarding military prowess, or lack-thereof. I'm curious to see how different you act under Penguin. I truthfully don't currently feel that we should hold an MDoAP, as I feel we both view each other more as business associates than friends. I think we both want to have our own niches of power which can cause conflicts or complications in situations. Maybe this changes in the future, we'll see. [b]World Task Force[/b]- N/A; Neutral [b]Sparta[/b]-5; You're big, and that's about all. I will acknowledge some improvement in war performance from Karma, but Karma was so poor that it's hard to give points for that. I would have given you a 6, but that just didn't feel right overall, so I knocked you down to a 5. Feels more appropriate. [b]Viridian Entente[/b]-6; Have some people I like and overall I think you have a pretty good idea of what you stand for and want to be as an alliance, you have a purpose and reason to exist (despite the irony of being a zombie alliance). Ultimately, not sure whether this direction is something I am fully onboard with, but I guess that's why I'm not in VE. Props to Impero, who has been a major contributor in the past few coalitions. [b]The Democratic Order[/b]- N/A; Neutral [b]Fark[/b]-5; Overall, I think you're a decent alliance, at least capable and organized. However, I can't recall an instance in which I've been a fan of how your government has conducted it's business and affairs in the past few years, since LUE's disbanding and the formation of Vanguard. [b]Mushroom Kingdom[/b] [b]Orange Defense Network[/b]-9; I am genuinely happy, and truthfully, surprised, and how far ODN has come in such a relatively short period of time. I still remember Arsenal introducing himself to me when he first assumed FA and he asked me what I thought of ODN, and I truthfully told him my feelings, which were not too positive. He and I talked regularly, and though I helped get the ball rolling sometimes, he and the rest of gov't who were with him did a great job of doing what was necessary FA-wise and improving internally, with a goal of becoming a power player in CN politics, and possibly joining CnG. I think being somewhat involved in this transformation makes me more connected to ODN than I otherwise would be with the same transformation. Even before joining CnG, ODN was one of the closest allies of Vanguard. [b]United Purple Nations[/b]-4; Not going to wax poetic on this. Disagree with past decisions, though I do consider you only semi-inept, which is a step up from the totally-inept stigma of LOLPURPLE. [b]FOK[/b]-6; I really don't know that much about Fok, however, like Fark, I view you as a generally capable and organized alliance. I score you better than Fark because I haven't had as many complaints with how your gov't has handled issues. I think this score could go up if I knew you better, but since I don't, I don't feel comfortable giving you a higher score. Think you overreacted to the ODN logs that came out. [b]Global Alliance And Treaty Organization[/b]-6; I do, and probably always will have a soft spot in my heart for Brown Colony. I heard decent things about your war effort in this past war through the grapevine. I definitely feel like GATO has potential to become more powerful, if they truly want to. [b]The Legion[/b]-1; Woefully inept and disorganized from GW2 on. Perhaps not as inept and/or disorganized now as they were even a year or a few months ago, but that's not much cause for celebration. Quite frankly, it's mind boggling how inept you were as an alliance for such a great period of time. Like Sparta's war performance increase, you may be better now, but all that really means is you're not quite as awful. [b]The Order Of The Paradox[/b]-4.5; Individually, you have many great members. As an alliance, you're active and know what you're doing stat-wise. Your FA not only lead you adrift of many non-allied alliances, but helped alienate yourself from your own previously close allies. One of the big issues was the continued re-election of certain figures, seemingly just because of their seniority and "old guard" status. Based on your activity, coordination, and capabilities, I felt and overall nation quality, I felt a 4 too low, but I felt a 5 too generous based on my own past personal experiences with TOP FA as well as your more recent FA record. Honestly, I like the fact you aggressively attacked, and I am worried that your defeat in this past war will discourage such pro-active measures from others, where I feel that such actions should almost be encouraged, as it allows for more varied outcomes from political situations. [b]Ragnarok[/b]-6; I have an almost ingrained closeness to Rok due to how long I've been allied to them and how they had backed Vanguard in situations before we had as much outside protection as we did. I will admit that outside of Hoo, I would probably do little more than guess a few names at who else is in government, and even if I got somebody correct, I couldn't tell you anything about them. I'll echo Denial earlier, in that I would be happy to see Rok regain the energy, presence, and power it once did. [b]RnR[/b]5; Don't know much about you beyond surface things. I think you also overreacted to the ODN logs. [b]The Order Of Light[/b]-4; Rumors and legend of poor war preparedness and inactivity. Perhaps these are overblown, but I don't have many positive interactions and stories to fall back on. Overall, a negative vibe. [b]Random Insanity Alliance[/b]5; Can't say I know anything about you as an alliance outside of Delta, however, I like Delta in the little that I've been around and dealt with him, seems sensible and rational. [b]Umbrella[/b]-7; Obviously, a force militarily, one of the few who consistently beat Vanguard in per member averages. I feel that we would have gotten along better (as compared to the relatively little contact we had) at Vanguard if we had come into contact with each other earlier in our progression as alliances. Genuinely happy and excited to work with you guys at MK, and I suspect this score to go up as I get more exposure and contact with you guys. [b]Poison Clan[/b]-5; Conflicted on this one. I like your nature in general, but you sometimes exacerbate issues with how you act. Also, conflicting reports about cooperating and coordinating with you in a wartime coalition. [b]Commonwealth Of Sovereign Nations[/b]-5; Dunno, WickedJ I guess? [b]Nueva Vida[/b]-7; Another alliance I'm almost ingrained to like due to experiences at Vanguard. Again though, I've personally been closer in the past, and while I'm sure I would still like you guys, I can't tell you much about your present or recent past. [b]Federation Of Armed Nations[/b]5.5; Historically, enjoyed you guys even though we were enemies. Re-enacting D-Day on NoV was hilarious. I miss this type of bravado and energy from FAN. I don't have much negative to say about you as a quieter alliance. Having Petrovich gets you the extra .5. Petro [b]Independent Republic Of Orange Nations[/b]-2; Haven't agreed with one major decision you've made since abandoning independence. Routinely clashed in OUT. You're not as inept as other alliances, though I wouldn't exactly sing your praises based on your overall membership. You also have a lackluster forum posting contingent, possibly the worst in current day CN. [b]Siberian Tiger Alliance[/b]-8; Great allies, though I sometimes feel they take things personally, when they aren't. [b]Multicolored Cross-X Alliance[/b]-3; Don't know much about you post TSO exodus. Very quiet and I get the feeling you just exist now. [b]The Grand Lodge Of Freemasons[/b]-4; Again, don't know much about you other than how I feel OUT was used as a shield for outside political reasons to hit you. Beyond that, nothing more than neutral to slightly negative vibes from others around me, thus a 4 instead of a 5. [b]Athens[/b]-7; Overall a good alliance, however, makes puzzling decisions sometimes. Even though I might agree with some of these decisions idealistically, based on the reality of how things are, the decided outcomes are sometimes just facepalm-worthy. [b]Nordreich[/b]-5; Don't know anything about you, but I've heard good things about your war preparedness and performance. [b]The International[/b]-5; Basically same as Nordreich. Don't know too much about you, but haven't heard many negatives. [b]The Foreign Division[/b]-4; This past war has been my only sample size for this rating. Right or wrong, you seemed to brag when facing lesser opponents, and then folded relatively quickly once you were finally matched up against a decent force. [b]LOSS[/b]-5; Don't know anything about you other than Nemesis likes you guys. [b]Nusantara Elite Warriors[/b]-4; Tend to like your style, however, cannot give you a 5 due to your decision this past war. [b]The Grämlins[/b]-3; Was never a huge Gre fan, even before the exodus of many long time members, though I did respect your amalgamation of large nations as well as your knowledge of game mechanics. Currently, there is no reason to demand unconditional surrender other than supreme ego, and even though the rest of us finally stopped letting you hold up our peace, you're now holding up our reps from IRON and DAWN. :colbert: [b]Guru Order[/b]-4; Who? But seriously, who are you? All I've really heard about you was your name. [b]North Atlantic Defense Coalition[/b]-2; Lingering dislike from GUARD days back when you left ONOS out to dry. This remains due to the fact you have done nothing to take my mind off of it, either positive or negative. You exist, but only with this cloud over your head. [b]M*A*S*H[/b]-3; Leak. Leak. Leak. Wish I could like you guys due to a few former ONOS people as well as Petrovitch vouching for you guys early on. Beyond the leak issue, there seems an overall slightly negative vibe, be it organization, activity, etc. [b]The Templar Knights[/b]-4; Again, who? All I know is your name.

Vanguard was part of the first retaliation against NPO. As was mentioned on the first page, GR activated their MDoAP with us. Also, we had one the highest wars/member ratios, which was decently impressive, considering most counters focused on other larger alliances.

Aircastle told me during/after the war that most would be leaving after the war, and the only reason they would wait was because they were fighting TOP. You'll see most delete and the rest go elsewhere, probably DF, their one and only MDP partner. By all means though, continue your speculation; it can be a fun exercise.

[quote name='kerschbs' date='08 April 2010 - 06:25 AM' timestamp='1270733104' post='2253036'] Congratulations on this occasion! If anyone was going to take our Pip, I'm glad it is you guys. [/quote] Use the cat pip or we will be forced to sell infra and knock you out of sanction range once you get back in. :colbert:

[quote name='der_ko' date='07 April 2010 - 06:31 PM' timestamp='1270690253' post='2252477'] Vanguard. Long live the smugness. [img]http://thecastlehall.com/boards/Smileys/kickass/smugmk.gif[/img] [/quote] Don't be mad that Real Vanguard is a much better team than MK Dons.

This cements our place in the hegemony; time to start disbanding people to keep up our reputation.

[quote name='Some-Guy' date='03 April 2010 - 12:37 PM' timestamp='1270323412' post='2246728'] Every alliance needs an angry dome. And now there are none [/quote] Maybe we'll add one.

[quote name='Dilber' date='02 April 2010 - 11:10 PM' timestamp='1270275033' post='2246350'] For the record, Denial wasn't PZI. We knew he was Revanche, and chose not to do anything. Good luck with the merge. [/quote] I know you knew who Revanche was. I meant Denial, as Denial. However, I don't believe you know who the rest of us are/were, nor do I believe anybody outside of us do.

[quote name='Smacky' date='02 April 2010 - 08:17 PM' timestamp='1270264647' post='2246201'] Hi Shinpah1! It was probably all done with good intentions. Its just disappointing in the same way old gremlins are disappointed in what their old alliance is today, but they can do whatever they want. [/quote] Are you implying you got run out of the alliance or something? For me, this is more like TSO running out on MCXA, in that virtually the whole government left. As a gov't, both as a member of it, and especially as a whole, you have a responsibility to make it work; that's why you're government. You especially have no room to complain about your replacements when you left while we were discussing courses of action. Speaking of which, I'm not quite sure what the sad difference is between FoB before you left and FoB now. What's sad is that you left Shinpah as the only active government member in a situation where clearly FoB was likely to go to war. To leave such a workload is, quite frankly, dick. Anyway, good luck in PC.

[center][img]http://img377.imageshack.us/img377/3543/flagzu8.png[/img][/center] Vanguard was formed early in 2007, in a world which saw NPO and their Initiative buddies (buddies at the time, at least through treaty; I guess some will disagree that they were all actually friendly and buddies with each other) with no formidable opposition in place; the major cogs of that opposition had been defeated and crushed in GW2, thanks to ODN and Legion leadership at that time, not that we would have won, but they should have realized the magnitude of that conflict. (As a side note, god was it gratifying to some of us when VL Empire made the post appealing to independents to support them once they were getting their @#$% kicked in GW3.) Alas, this post is not intended to be a history lesson of 2k6-2k9 CN politics. Getting to the point, LUE was not a welcome moniker in this era. Those with pasts as LUE were closely monitored and had to be careful with where they went, what they said, actions they took. MK was able to secure protection from GOONS, which provided a safe(r) haven for former LUE. Conversely, there was Vanguard. Spawned by Denial, who iirc, was pzi by NPO, Vanguard was not privy to such protection from its members' pasts. Vanguard was founded by former LUE members, and one ONOS member, with nearly all of us needing to shed our former identities. We formed slowly, with a planned influx of members, to keep the public eye off us, as an alliance springing up made of 20 new nations would have drawn attention to us. We formed as a small, tight knit community of LUE refugees. However, beyond the attention it would draw us, we realized there was a flaw in LUE, in that as a mass member alliance of that theme, and while definitely fun, we had a lot of stupidity. We endeavored to be the good part of LUE. We originally intended to low lay and stay out of politics, to avoid stupid wars and also to avoid the attention being part of politics would bring us. Vanguard grew well, with a few nations that had been able avoid the need to re-roll funding our new nations. We eventually secured a protectorate with Valhalla, but that fell apart after we failed to notify them of a treaty we intended to sign. We later had more run ins with Valhalla over a few issues, but that's besides the point, I just didn't want to leave out our Valhalla protectorate. Vanguard was one of the first and best alliances that practiced the small and elite structure. Even with this more prevalent today, going into this past war we were still among the top 10 in most per member numbers, and this was a source of pride for us. This might also explain why we held an MDP with TOP at one point in time, however, that clearly also fell apart (due to a defining moment in our alliance's history, which I'll be referencing shortly). And on to that defining moment. When others were busy with NoCB, our closest friends, Universalis, got in a scuffle with Legion. I'm not going to go into the politics of that war, why it escalated into war, etc because it's not important to this announcement. However, by this time, we had a few treaties, though they were signed with other small alliances. Ragnarok was large, but that was when they were gobbling up alliances, they were small when we treatied them. On this tangent, we also treatied The Shadowhood, which merged with another alliance to form Echelon. We held treaties with TOP, ODN, and Universalis as well. To make a long story short about how I know Legion and Co were full of !@#$ about their claims against Uni, I know they were false and misguided because I was part of the planning of what they were vaguely and incorrectly referencing. We were unhappy with the bs of NoCB and contemplated entering to just nuke some people. I ended up being the only one in Vanguard who was going to do so, as the others did not want to do it unless Vanguard as a whole entity was going to do so, and Vanguard as an entity was not going to. I, with some from Univeralis and Uni's friends in PAIN, started planning who to blindside. However, we never got out of the planning stage. We were still gathering accurate info on how many nations and nukes we would have, and we were assessing which alliances we could actually make an impact against. Nobody was chosen, nor was there any decision imminent. So when Legion came to Uni (also, I know which alliance was the leak, MASH) with the accusations they did, I was armed with information they didn't know I had. The talks are history, and the long and short of it is that the Universalis-Legion Conflict was our coming out party and, in my mind, THE defining moment of Vanguard. Vanguard, built in it's elite, top-heavy, heavily focused military wonder nations structure, along with Uni and PAIN, though still heavily outnumbered, ripped through Legion's upper ranks. Peace eventually prevailed with us paying reps, but those were nothing to us, and we gained new friends in Nueva Vida, though we lost TOP. We also would have canceled on ODN (led by Walkerninja at the time, just for timeline's sake), but we never got around to doing it. Regardless, there is absolutely nothing I regret about this war, or the consequences of. After that war, we continued building, though with more and more exposure. Skipping some periodic drama with Valhalla and others, I'll fast forward to our absorption of TDSM8 and introduction to CnG. Well, our absorption of TDSM8 was just that. They came to us, and were not doing so well under the reps that NPO levied them. It was truly a merge, though we carried it out as an absorption, as we considered it a safer avenue for us in politics. TDSM8's one true stipulation was not losing their friends in CnG. With this, we (re) introduced ourselves to CnG. I say (re) since many of us knew MK from LUE. This was also a momentous period in Vanguard's history, as it formed the basis for our FA since that time. It was also a tough proposition internally, as we had originally sought to avoid being entrenched in the treaty web and the stupid politics it can entail. Not too mention, many of us were not fond of MK nor Archon, since his formation of an alliance under those who destroyed us did not sit well with us; some might have called him a traitor. Much debate ensued, but we took on TDSM8 and joined CnG. I firmly believe we made a good decision, and I doubt any member of Vanguard feels differently. Karma war happened. It was cool. NPO fell. Of course, GOONS had fallen earlier. !@#$ happened. This $%&@ed up war happened. It was cool. We're really close to MK. We're over (mostly ) our grudge against them. Our combined talents is something we consider amazing. Vanguard has had an exceptional run. Vanguard is merging into Mushroom Kingdom. What might I consider Vanguard's legacy? Well to me, as a founding member, Vanguard represents my best time in CN. Vanguard was one of the best, most respected alliances in CN, wielding power not just through our NS, but through our bonds, and through respect we earned through actions (such as standing by Uni). We were often-times mentioned as one of the most powerful alliances per NS by others throughout Planet Bob. If nothing more, it's validation that we did well. At the end of the day, I'm proud of what we accomplished at Vanguard, and I will never be shamed for anything Vanguard ever did. Big, big, big, big shout out to Thaliak. Thaliak was our long time Hammer (Internal Affairs) and basically created our application interview process. Without Thaliak, I seriously doubt Vanguard would have survived as long, or reached nearly the heights it did. He doesn't get the credit he deserves. There is no other person who meant more to the success of Vanguard than he. Shout out to Universalis, and those Uni guys still around CN; Sup Lemeard? Shout out to our former protectorate, SLCB. SLPV 4eva Shout out to Reyne for giving us :viper: Shout out to myself, for being the longest tenured Vanguard gov't member, I believe. Finally, shout out to every member, both current and former, of Vanguard, for making it such a great alliance. [center][b][u]Grand Architects of Vanguard[/u][/b] [b]The Sovereign[/b], Rafael Nadal [b]The Vizier[/b], Thaliak [b]The Consul[/b] Stumpy [b][u]Architects of Vanguard[/u][/b] [b]The Sword[/b], Negev [b]The Shield[/b], Pocho [b]The Hammer[/b], QuiteTheUserName [b]The Treasurer[/b], Prometheus [b]The Scholar[/b], Faramir Kenobi[/center] PS: We never got rolled for tech dealing with Chickenzilla. Take that world.

Good luck on this. Kinda surprised RnR is in this, since Fok is missing from it. All of LEO was included in OUT, yet it is not so with this treaty. Whether that truly means anything or not, I'm not sure, but I find it interesting.