lefeubleu said:
I get your point, Diomed...
I wonder though, since Parabellum, it has become common that most big hits on caps are followed by a descent to lvl5, since they stop defending, having lost too much in the first place.
But imagine a coalition where everybody puts 30% of their defense in cap, they are downgraded but didn't expect it so they didn't activate their bonuses ; then they know they will be downgraded again the next day, but though they have suffered big losses, why not put their remaining 70% (drop pans if needed) in their cap within the 24 hour protection and all (who are online at least) activate defense bonuses (elixirs, general equipment, phylarch, +10/20/50% from the market) ?
24 hours later, their cap would be much better defended and unless their attackers are ready to suffer even bigger losses than the day before (which is rarely the case I suppose...), defeat would turn into victory (costly one, perhaps!)
I'm talking about high level coalitions obviously, otherwise they would just get wiped out again.
PS : I remember now, when Thersites Rising went down, they replaced their losses (but didn't put all, probably didn't expect to be hit again, it was perhaps the first lvl20 cap to go down, if I'm not mistaken)
Good in theory , yet against the math : still comes up short. Usugu (and some Plarium sponsorship) assured Terms destruction. 30% even with pans stripped would have been easier to overcome with the first attack. Putting in the remaining 70% then would have cost more to downgrade, but given the strength available from just one person, and the horde available to set against us, a bit more effort from the other 5 coas would have still carried that through. Then after that , being truly nothing left; the slide down is the same.
As far as how hated Terminators was, I can also add that we were very restrained and merciful given what we were capable of. Almost all coa we were victorious against when asked by them were granted mercy by us and took shelter in it. Not saying that means we deserved any ourselves, but the new #1 is going to have a bit of a problem exceeding that level of benevolence. We brought people sanctuary in our shadow as well and those who were allied with us enjoyed the benefits of that protection (including T300). There were of course some individuals here who were a little over zealous in pursuing the enemy. It was a large family and in addition, people loved to use our banner for their buggery, so they could have it said: "It was terminators". A lot of the time it was someones' alt from another coa that wanted Terms to fight their battles for them.
I was witness to a few people admonished, punished or even thrown out of the guild for not complying with the diplomacy set by leadership. There were more who were just 'given a pass' , of course, but most I witnessed didnt over do it more than any other person from any other coa (hitting someones farm or emporium a few times doesnt really count as a campaign of destruction in this game). Despite those detractions, we managed to keep the majority in line and dealt with the others for the most part. Leadership honored its diplomatic agreements. We didnt backstab or otherwise betray an ally while allied during my 2 years here, and took great pains to treat those losing to us in a like fashion. I wonder if those replacing us will do the same?
The game was once great when I started playing. Removing first the grain cap and then the changes to the pay to play dynamic have marginalized the free player to the point of irrelevance.
I mentioned this and much more before. The free player was part of what made this game great, and was the reason so many played. Take that away and the game loses luster in the loss of the masses.. so many started playing BECAUSE it was free and with HARD work they could build and contribute (if in smaller part but larger number) to the whole of the coalition they were part of , and thus be an important part of the game.
Plariums' response was to power on with the micro transaction parody of other pay to play games to max out the profits. Now that free players know all their grinding and hard work is useless, most quickly give up once they realize how irrelevant they are. If you have 10-20 mil playing PP the right way can give you a boost but even adding 10-20 mil (and PP takes away a lot more than it doubles your bet) makes you barely a speed bump to someone like Usugu. A free players army struggles to even be seen in the melee that is out there now. Once the free player loses an army, there is no revival either. One shot and done. Many former pay players that lose large portions face the other side of the coin now as they ask themselves: "Why should I revive when the game has declined so much?" Thus the decline of the free player enforces the decline of the pay player. The current degrading and self reinforcing spiral we find ourselves in is the result.
Kudos to them in getting a few bucks out of us. Even I bought 100$ worth of PAs just to pay back a few of the agitants who were the most prominent in attacking us ( I coudlnt in good conscience do nothing while people I counted as my friends went down - small effort, but symbolic to how I felt about my coa - strong enough to break my standard of how I see pay-to-win games ) , so I suppose to an extent, Plarium gets what it seeks short term , at the cost of killing the goose that laid the golden egg in changing from pay-to-play optional, to pay-to-win mandatory.
As someone else previously mentioned in this thread: a moment of silence for the entire game. We now preside upon its decline, vigil at its bedside.