Round 19 Predictions

[Wishmaster]

I predict me quitting after 2 weeks. A good reason will be given. and then all can call me InactiveMaster again

[gzambo]

i predict sjor will win the rd

[qebab]

From what I gather, both LCH and Omen look strong, and eXi is obviously a dark horse. I don't know much about the rest of the alliances, but I suppose these three will be contending for the throne, at least.

[Stoom]

1. eXi
2. LCH
3/4/5. VsN/Omen/ND

21. Ascendancy

[K-W]

Originally Posted by qebab

From what I gather, both LCH and Omen look strong, and eXi is obviously a dark horse. I don't know much about the rest of the alliances, but I suppose these three will be contending for the throne, at least.

The alliance that won the previous round really cant be a dark horse.

[jerome]

sure it can, how much do you know about exilition as it is right now?

think of occam's razor before you reply too by the way

[Gate]

Originally Posted by jerome

sure it can, how much do you know about exilition as it is right now?

think of occam's razor before you reply too by the way

They've won 3/3.

That's where I got after a liberal occam based shave.

[Pilgrim]

There are so many crap allys its quite tough.

Exi
vision
pm
Angels
FCrew

[Lord^]

The following is a careful analysis of the current predictions of each alliance and their ranking:

Omen
LCH
Exilition
Vision
Angels*
ND*
Post|Mortem*
ToF*
xVx*
SiN

Alliances not in the Top 10, but with huge importance to change the political landscape and thus the outlook on the Top 10:

TGV, Rock, F-Crew, VgN, and Ascendancy

* Alliances with the asteriks are so close in their average ranking output that they could be easily switched up and down the ranks. For instance ToF received the most mentions for rankings, but xVx had the most consistent position in everyone's prediction.

Thanks for everyone replying to this thread. Now I can finally rest and wait for the actual round to commence.

[Cartman]

Originally Posted by Pilgrim

There are so many crap allys its quite tough.

Exi
vision
pm
Angels
FCrew

define crap pls

[Pilgrim]

Originally Posted by Cartman

define crap pls

There was a time when the player base was so large that there would be competition to be top alliance from a good few allys. Barring the Fury/ Legion Days. Now however only 2-3 allys can get 50-60 fulltime PA players. So the rest just rely on recruitig there way up the ranks finishing in the top 5 with 80odd members.

[Cartman]

i know the pa history.. still doesnt say anythin why those allies are crap.. times change and people adapt.. thats just normal..

[Pilgrim]

Im not going to start saying reasons why player numbers have dwindled. But id like to see alliance size limits of 20 which would make it far more competitive.

[qebab]

Originally Posted by Pilgrim

Im not going to start saying reasons why player numbers have dwindled. But id like to see alliance size limits of 20 which would make it far more competitive.

I am quite certain that this would make even more people leave though. It's the way forward, at least.

[Gate]

Originally Posted by Pilgrim

There was a time when the player base was so large that there would be competition to be top alliance from a good few allys. Barring the Fury/ Legion Days. Now however only 2-3 allys can get 50-60 fulltime PA players. So the rest just rely on recruitig there way up the ranks finishing in the top 5 with 80odd members.

Now, I'm not from back in the olden days.

But from what I've gathered, there were not actually many alliances that were genuinely good enough to stand a chance on their own. For example, how many alliances were capable of going toe to toe with Furgion during their ascendancy?

In the coming round, we have LCH, VisioN, Omen and eXilition who are all predicted to be strong enough to fight for first, and the possibility of strong showings from P|M, ND, ToF, xVx and Angels, all of whom have proven they are capable of making an impressive impact (although they are far far less likely to win a round).

Rather than lack of alliances with the ability to contend, perhaps it is a change in political makeup within the game that is affecting this?

[Stoom]

haha I just saw someone saying Ascendancy is of huge importance and has the possibilities to change the political landscape :|

[Heartless]

Originally Posted by Stoom

haha I just saw someone saying Ascendancy is of huge importance and has the possibilities to change the political landscape :|

Dude, we made eXilition win last round!

[Tietäjä]

1. LCH
2. Angels
3. Omen
4. eXilition
5. ToF
6. Vision
7. xVx
8. ND
9. P|M
10. F-Crew

The round will start off with some quick blocks being formed, against the most evident threats. The first likely alliances to get the "bash" are eXilition and Omen (just for the historical gang Omen -effect). The final rankings of eXilition especially depend a lot on how hard they get ganged on; if they're playing small core, they won't be sufficient targets for too long, and there'll be people who'll end up picking knives off their backs. After a while of kicking each others' balls in humpteams, the majority probably runs out of endurance (staff level, perhaps?) and ends up roid racing. Angels are looking very strong with the evident comebacks of a vast number of old players, and LCH appear (even though the underdogs might be a wrong impression) to be able to take the round out of the blue.

On the mid-lower end of the table, Tides of Fire will find themselves sitting on the middle through sheer quantity, xVx will revert to a more normal rate as the competition heats up. ND will climb up back to top10 through some recouping from last round, and the new boys P|M will make their appearance thereabouts. F-crew will, a lot like ToF, find their way up the ranks through sheer numbers, although likes of ROCK, VGN and SiN are likely to be knocking in for the top10.

[pig]

Originally Posted by Pilgrim

There was a time when the player base was so large that there would be competition to be top alliance from a good few allys. Barring the Fury/ Legion Days. Now however only 2-3 allys can get 50-60 fulltime PA players. So the rest just rely on recruitig there way up the ranks finishing in the top 5 with 80odd members.

Thats crap, each round you could predict the winning alliance (block) this was seen with players for example moving from one side to another each round to guarentee decent planet ranks. It still happens today. Very rarely do you get an upset. Recent rounds would be ascendancy (but argubably military wise 1up dominated which was the prediction) however in previous rounds one could tell who was going to win.

Originally Posted by keizari

The round will start off with some quick blocks being formed

It doesnt bode well if omen hc are predicting blocks before signups.

I always believe that blocks can be avoided but if people go into the round believing that blocks are innevitable and essential then they will occur.

On the ganging up of for example eXilition. Thats not a block, it would merely constitute a means to an end i.e ending the threat of eXilition. Once the threat of eXilition has gone alliances can stop cooperating and start fighting. I believe the best rounds are those which are fluid in the approach to politics and where alliances aren't scared of running for number one and put pride behind them to work together to further there position.

If alliances such as ToF, xVx and Angels (using as an example here guys) go into the round believing they wont win and end up supporting for example LCH and eXilition then quite frankly what is the point in playing for such alliances. Each and every alliance should play for number 1 and this included collaborating with and backstabbing alliances to attain that goal. Unfortunately there are too many HC who are scared of saying no to the bigger alliances and become nothing but puppets.

[Tietäjä]

Originally Posted by pig

It doesnt bode well if omen hc are predicting blocks before signups.

I always believe that blocks can be avoided but if people go into the round believing that blocks are innevitable and essential then they will occur.

By blocking I was simply refering to the fact that some (or certain) alliances will be prone or highly likely to team up to ensure their success, and perhaps attack another alliances while on it. This will probably result in a counterblock reaction.

[K-W]

Originally Posted by Gate

Now, I'm not from back in the olden days.

But from what I've gathered, there were not actually many alliances that were genuinely good enough to stand a chance on their own. For example, how many alliances were capable of going toe to toe with Furgion during their ascendancy?

In the coming round, we have LCH, VisioN, Omen and eXilition who are all predicted to be strong enough to fight for first, and the possibility of strong showings from P|M, ND, ToF, xVx and Angels, all of whom have proven they are capable of making an impressive impact (although they are far far less likely to win a round).

Rather than lack of alliances with the ability to contend, perhaps it is a change in political makeup within the game that is affecting this?

After round 3 there were a number of very strong alliances in PA. Furgion was, after all 2 alliances, and they werent always the best 2 alliances. While I dont neccessarily disagree that reducing alliance size would increase competitiveness, there are enough alliances in the game currently to have plenty of competition as long as there is alliance parity and the stats encourage warfare.

[K-W]

Originally Posted by jerome

sure it can, how much do you know about exilition as it is right now?

think of occam's razor before you reply too by the way

Occam's razor, how exactly is that relevant?

Perhaps they have lost a significant amount of players, that still wouldnt make them a dark horse. A dark horse is an unkown who comes out of nowhere to win, not the most decorated active alliance winning yet another round. While I can understand people expecting them not to win if they really have lost alot of players, to expect nothing of them would be foolish.

[Gate]

Originally Posted by K-W

After round 3 there were a number of very strong alliances in PA. Furgion was, after all 2 alliances, and they werent always the best 2 alliances. While I dont neccessarily disagree that reducing alliance size would increase competitiveness, there are enough alliances in the game currently to have plenty of competition as long as there is alliance parity and the stats encourage warfare.

Well, that was kinda my point. That this round is looking hugely interesting since for teh first time in PaX there are plenty of alliances in with a great shot at winning the round. Which makes it far more interesting than, for example, ASKDJBASJHDVASKD block (led by one or two major allies) against ADGASHGD block (led by one or two major allies).

The decline in permanent blocks and perhaps concentration on the actual alliance leaderboard are the main causes of that IMO.

[pig]

Originally Posted by Gate

That this round is looking hugely interesting since for teh first time in PaX there are plenty of alliances in with a great shot at winning the round.

I believe this can only be the case if a) eXilition dont play or b) eXilition are twatted from t72. Other than that it will be a foregone conclusion.

[Sjor]

Originally Posted by pig

I believe this can only be the case if a) eXilition dont play or b) eXilition are twatted from t72. Other than that it will be a foregone conclusion.

exilition will most likely not get twatted as even if 3 allainces teamup on them the other alliances will hit those 3 alliances cause of beeing afraid that exil targets them.

[Tietäjä]

Originally Posted by Sjor

exilition will most likely not get twatted as even if 3 allainces teamup on them the other alliances will hit those 3 alliances cause of beeing afraid that exil targets them.

The more likely run of events is like this: three alliances notice that eXilition is growing out of proportion. They start waging war with eXilition to bring them down. This starts a campaign. During this campaign, three other alliances, look into it and; oh, our main competition is stuck twatting eXilition. This is our chance. They form a block, pick up eXilition thinking they're down enough, and start hitting the three alliances originally hitting eXilition.

[ReligFree]

Think Keiz has probably just predicted what will happen this round.

[pig]

Well since we are talking about predictions this is mine.

Omen and LCH make a great start to round 19 both with full memberbases. Both realise that early in the round it would be stupid to target one another as both have a sizeable amount of top 100 planets and are pretty much neck and neck in score.

At this point if LCH are anything like they used to be, I would predict LCH are number 1 with Omen closely behind.

Below LCH and Omen you find the next tier of alliances, these are alliances who can still potentially win the round but perhaps have had a few more incomings than LCH and Omen or aren't quite up to scratch in the military, strategy and motivation departments yet. I would put these alliances as ToF, ND, Angels and xVx. These are alliances who have some strong quality players in them but aren't reaching there potential, but when a war breaks out between for example omen and lch will pick up roids cheaply and quickly. They may also be the alliances who show that finesse is no match for brute strength and due to the numbers could potentially power through. I would hope these alliances dont see themselves as puppets (I know ND wont) and so dont bend over to the will of alliances such as eXil, Omen and LCH.

We then have the next tier. These are the alliances such as Vision, TGV, P|M, F-Crew. Alliances like these have numbers but perhaps lack the it factor so to speak. For these alliances it is crucial that they play there own game. That they dont become lap dogs. These alliances are sitting pretty in the top 10 or there abouts. They have a decent ish average and are doing ok galaxy raids and minding there own business. The trickle down effect is probably happening, with the top tier hitting the second tier and the second tier hitting the third tier.

We then have the next couple of alliances. In this is eXilition. Small alliance, good average, good roids, good moral and can rip apart galaxies like no other alliance. Numbers isn't a factor. They are defending and attacking well and slowly but surely are moving up the ranks with some good top 100 planets.

I believe at about t200 this is how the round will look.

#1 LCH
#2 Omen
#3 New Dawn
#4 xVx
#5 ToF
#6 Angels
#7 Vision
#8 TGV
#9 P|M
#10 F-Crew
#11 Random Ally
#12 Random Ally
#13 Random Ally
#14 Random Ally
#15 eXilition

Now if I was HC of say Omen, I wouldn't hit eXilition (not based on history but purely because I want number 1 (if I was HC of omen I would twat eXilition from tick 72)

So now I am HC of LCH, shit shit shit. Omen are hitting us. **** we have had 200 ticks of no incoming, what do we do now. I know lets hit Omen back. I'm saying to my fellow HC "What about eXilition, they have the best average score, the best roids" my fellow HC say to me "**** eXilition, we are at war."

ND is loving all of this slowly but surely ND gets fat. I am now HC at ND I say to my fellow HC "What about eXilition, they have the best average score, the best roids, they hit us here and there, remember round 15 they are a threat" my fellow HC say to me "**** eXilition, we are getting roid fat, if we pretend we dont exist we might sneak into #1."

As the war carries on xVx, ToF, Vision, P|M slowly get dragged into the war. There eyes are fixed on not only number one but defeating these evil enemies. They wont notice eXilition slowly climbing the ranks, hell why would you notice eXilition, they are small and insignifcant. Who cares if they have 10 of the top 20.

My point is, albeit long winded, eXilition are a threat. No one will give a **** about them when the round has started. We all become too selfish and care too much about alliance, galaxy, planet (some in the other order) to notice that eXilition are roiding hard, growing fast and eventually will jump from top 15 to top 10 to top 5 then potentially #1. Because at the end of the day I believe we are all greedy bastards. And once we set eyes on #1 we cant take our eyes off it so anything else happening around is which isnt immediatly affecting us won't bother us.

My advice cannot be any clearer to alliances. Hit eXilition from tick 72. This isn't propoganda this is just a warning in advance so in 3 months time people dont come here and go how did we let a 40 man alliance beat us.

Of course one must remember that eXilition may just be playing for fun. It would be great in my opinion to see an alliance such as eXilition play for fun and this would be an added bonus to the game. If they get twatted from the start and they werent playing serious then well oops. But maybe it will be like round 6, where it was essential to even out the stomping ground so to speak and twat Furgion.

Incidentally for alliances such as LCH, ND, Omen, Angels, xVx etc now is the time to make your mark on the game. You can become the 1ups, the furys, the legions, the eXilitions. You can become a powerhouse. If you dont capitalise on the fact that 1up has ceased to continue playing and eXilition are weaker (hence easier to beat and ensure they dont have victory) then you are all fools.

Finally on eXilition. People may be asking me "pig, why the anti eXil" I would like to reply I am not anti eXilition. In fact I consider eXilition to be the best alliance around now. I also respect the HC and members and hold many in high regard. But what I won't do is acknowledge like certain members of the community that eXilition are playing for fun.

History is always a good lesson. I use that as my facts.

Round 13 eXilition won.
Round 15 eXilition won.
Round 18 eXilition won.

Between those rounds they have had off and relaxed and regrouped. Playing for the alliance you love means you put in 110% so those who didnt have rounds off and played for example Omen they wouldnt care if Omen lost, it was just something to do.

Now History tells us when eXilition play, they win.

Now dont be fools, you have been fooled before be it by 1up, Ascendency hell im sure even eXilition fooled us all. Don't be fooled again.

[aNgRyDuCk]

Originally Posted by pig

stuff

I think pig must be bored :/

[JonnyBGood]

If an alliance can't take down a thirty man alliance with a week to go in the round they don't deserve to be called an alliance.

[Stoom]

Zomg pig isnt even playing and still starting up the propagandamachine against eXilition!!!

To quote Ziw (about the only other guy in eXi priv chan) "Somehow I feel pig wants us dead from tick72 ;p"

[cura]

Originally Posted by pig

blah

wanna make ND's recruitment thread?

[Ziw]

Oi, don't give away our supersecret intell
And, yes, good work on the let's kill the playing for fun ally with downsized manpower =)
You really schould get a cookie for creating the we hate eXi powerblock preround ;p

[JonnyBGood]

I'll be continuing my personal campaign against stoom this round on the grounds that the presence of such a high quantity of idiocy in the world is really buggering up my day.

[Stoom]

Originally Posted by JonnyBGood

I'll be continuing my personal campaign against stoom this round on the grounds that the presence of such a high quantity of idiocy in the world is really buggering up my day.

omg! Vendetta!!!!!!!!!1111111111

[-=Yggdra=-]

Wow. We must have really gotten into pig's head somehow. You piss your pants by people asking you on the streets "eXcuse me?" or "Let's do some eXercise. Shall we?" ?

I haven't seen that much paranoia since my social year at the asylum.

[pig]

Originally Posted by -=Yggdra=-

Wow. We must have really gotten into pig's head somehow. You piss your pants by people asking you on the streets "eXcuse me?" or "Let's do some eXercise. Shall we?" ?

I haven't seen that much paranoia since my social year at the asylum.

I would rather be paranoid, than stupid.

Originally Posted by pig

I would like to reply I am not anti eXilition. In fact I consider eXilition to be the best alliance around now. I also respect the HC and members and hold many in high regard.

Originally Posted by ziw

And, yes, good work on the let's kill the playing for fun ally with downsized manpower =) You really schould get a cookie for creating the we hate eXi powerblock preround ;p

Thanks

Originally Posted by Stoom

Zomg pig isnt even playing and still starting up the propagandamachine against eXilition!!!

Its not a propoganda machine so to speak, i'm just highlighting potential threats. eXilition is and always will be one.

Take it as a compliment guys.

You are that good!

[lokken]

I don't think it's a case of Exilition 'being good' that makes them a threat. It's simply the fact that they have kept their name, will play in their usual way, even if you are smaller which means that if you are joe average alliance, take your eye off the ball and they are suddenly a very big threat.

Originally Posted by JonnyBGood

If an alliance can't take down a thirty man alliance with a week to go in the round they don't deserve to be called an alliance.

I think the point is that people don't necessarily believe (and why should you believe your opposition) that they will finish with 'just thirty men'. Arguably the only alliance as smart/smarter are Ascendancy and well, we're hardly likely to be in the top ranks or want to be committing that kind of time.

if Exilition are dealt with, I can see ND winning if they bother and have the right people in, as when they put their mind to it, they can make those other alliances look cack. Big if though.

[Gate]

I'm afraid that I'm still in the 'twat eX' camp. With pig.

This round will be phenominally interesting if eXilition are not involved in the running IMO. It will give others a chance and we will see how they perform at the top. If eXilition turn up with anything above half the numbers of teh other alliances, they are the most likely winners IMO and logically, it is best to destroy them as early as possible. Logically, once they are contending for top spots, they will on average be twice the size, planet-for-planet of various other allies. This makes them difficult to cover with standard raids and means that to effectively target them you need target assignments and the likes. And as I found in round 13, it's annoying to have to use 3-5 planets just to put a single wave on an eXilition planet, and then have it stopped by a single defence fleet which could easily be fake. And it takes a lot of extra time and effort that can easily burn through BCs, or is impossible to pull off for some allies.

It will be much easier to knock eXilition out as early as is possible, and this way LCH, Omen, VsN etc will stand a chance.

Originally Posted by lokken

if Exilition are dealt with, I can see ND winning if they bother and have the right people in, as when they put their mind to it, they can make those other alliances look cack. Big if though.

Barrow's back. So I'd like to predict ND for the win.*



*I know we all take the piss out of him, but his TAs are actually ace.

[Tomkat]

The win will come from something controversial.

This new alliance-merging rule is the perfect crime.

I bet that one alliance will look like it'll win, with another close behind. In the last few days before the round ends, a smaller alliance will join the #2 alliance and go into #1.

Then there'll be about 20 threads made on AD in the next 3 years about just who should have won the round.

[JonnyBGood]

Originally Posted by lokken

I think the point is that people don't necessarily believe (and why should you believe your opposition) that they will finish with 'just thirty men'. Arguably the only alliance as smart/smarter are Ascendancy and well, we're hardly likely to be in the top ranks or want to be committing that kind of time.

Every time someone mentions ascendancy on the forums I play Stayin' Alive by the Bee Gees. Seriously. Personally what I'd do as an alliance HC is to go to other alliances and say "hi, we'd like to see someone not exilition win this round. so if exilition go above 35 members or if they merge into another alliance or if they rise above rank #7 (why not?) in the alliance rankings we all drop what we are doing and wave them into the ground."

Didn't sid do something similar anti-blocking-wise for r11?

[Cartman]

love to be able to just read AD and get some really good fiction stories..
... honored u think that much of us pig.. and yes if we were somewhat like last round it might have happened.. sadly alot have gotten bored.. and alot of command wants to get back to the real world.. so eX is nothin like last round or the other rounds we've won.. this is more like our break rounds only that we instead are gonna play and just try to get some more fun into the game and possibly get up a new command team.. its either playing with small base and just having fun or not playing at all ...but we decided to play to prepare eX for the future.. when alot leaves completly..

[Lord^]

Originally Posted by JonnyBGood

Every time someone mentions ascendancy on the forums I play Stayin' Alive by the Bee Gees. Seriously. Personally what I'd do as an alliance HC is to go to other alliances and say "hi, we'd like to see someone not exilition win this round. so if exilition go above 35 members or if they merge into another alliance or if they rise above rank #7 (why not?) in the alliance rankings we all drop what we are doing and wave them into the ground."

Didn't sid do something similar anti-blocking-wise for r11?

The problem is JBG. The players and command staff aren't as they used to be. Only a few can play the politics game, and do so efficiently. Sid is of a dying breed. And to be honest like Lokken posted in another thread, Ascendancy can't be asked to get involved on a large scale. So we are left with the children of PaX and their feeble attempt at Pre-Round politics.

There are few left that are 1st priority alliance players. With that being said, there will be no common goal of thwarting any Exilition threat until it is too late, and they can defend themselves properly without worry of losing much roids for a long term period.

Round 19 should be renamed The Last Hope, because this will ultimately decide the future of PAX. And as we all know, Hope is really a fool's emotion. So I guess we will see the end sooner rather than later now.

Maybe 1up was what kept the game running, and now that it isn't Exilition left. Once they completely fold and leave, we just left with an empty shell with people just playing to play because they haven't found their new game. Or they the rats on a sinking ship.

<-=- Rat :/

[JonnyBGood]

Politics at the HC level might be one of the few things that requires a bit of skill but for god's sake this requires none as I just outlined precisely what people should do to counter exilition

And to be honest being thrown in at the deep end might be a good thing for some people. It's sink or swim time ladies and gentlemen.

[Kargool]

Originally Posted by JonnyBGood

It's sink or swim time ladies and gentlemen.

Can I dogpaddle?

[lokken]

Originally Posted by JonnyBGood

Every time someone mentions ascendancy on the forums I play Stayin' Alive by the Bee Gees. Seriously. Personally what I'd do as an alliance HC is to go to other alliances and say "hi, we'd like to see someone not exilition win this round. so if exilition go above 35 members or if they merge into another alliance or if they rise above rank #7 (why not?) in the alliance rankings we all drop what we are doing and wave them into the ground."

Might be too late by then, although actually I have no idea about that. As Ascendancy (it's the bee gees again) showed, you can jump from 7th to 1st in pretty much a tick, so er 'hmm'.

Didn't sid do something similar anti-blocking-wise for r11?

Well my impression of round 11 1up strategy was 'convince everyone not to block, win with ease as we're the best alliance", if that's what you are thinking of. To me I see it like this: when exilition felt like they wouldn't do themselves justice, they didn't play. They are playing this round, so want to do themselves justice. Therefore, they are competition.

Please note: I am just saying things how I see them from a common sense point of view. I'm not telling anyone to do anything, people can work it out for themselves what they need to do, what agreements they need to make or what limits they set.

People claim that a lack of 1up and exilition would damage the game. Not so, in my opinion. I think a more open game will be more exciting, more relaxed, less time consuming and overall better value for money. The best rounds have been the open ones, which lasted to the end, exilition's victory over ND being one such example where it wasn't til the last week that the round was decided. Rounds where one big alliance twats the other and dominates are about as fun as pulling teeth, as watching alliances play for 2nd is not interesting in the slightest. That's not to say what I term 'strike' alliances (as in alliances that can carry out a sustained military campaign) don't have a place; there are rounds where they've made very entertaining rounds when their politics haven't been desperately dull.

And that's the bottom line because stone cold said so.

[JonnyBGood]

Ascendancy managed that due to the fact that pretty much nobody knew where all our planets were though because we had no defence interaction. And if I recall correctly jester said sid pmed him a few days before we tagged up to congratulate him so even then the knowledge was out there. The best exilition could manage would be somewhat similar to a r17 1up scenario and to be honest if everyone fell for that again we might as well just call the game off and go back to the National Tiddlywinks Championship (I believe it's in Sussex this year!)

I just wouldn't waste my time hitting exilition straight off if I was an alliance HC if I had an agreement, as outlined, with a few other alliances. Of course right now some asshole is probably thinking "hay what if my alliance allied with exilition and they could boost us into first". I'm serious if you're thinking this kill yourself.

As regards "doing themselves justice", cartman's last post in this thread (questionable of course) outlines a slightly different emphasis.

[K-W]

Originally Posted by Gate

Well, that was kinda my point. That this round is looking hugely interesting since for teh first time in PaX there are plenty of alliances in with a great shot at winning the round. Which makes it far more interesting than, for example, ASKDJBASJHDVASKD block (led by one or two major allies) against ADGASHGD block (led by one or two major allies).

The decline in permanent blocks and perhaps concentration on the actual alliance leaderboard are the main causes of that IMO.

I dont think we know that there are plenty alliances with a great shot. Its hard to predict because there is so much uncertainity in alliance performances. We have alliances returning, alliances playing with different strengths, and members from disbanded alliances redistributing themselves. There is no reason to assume this has produced parity. We also have no idea how the politics of the round are going to shape up.

But I guess theres no harm in being optimistic

[K-W]

Originally Posted by Ziw

Oi, don't give away our supersecret intell
And, yes, good work on the let's kill the playing for fun ally with downsized manpower =)
You really schould get a cookie for creating the we hate eXi powerblock preround ;p

Why would an alliance playing for fun care if they got hit at the beginning of the round? If that happens, take it as a sign of the respect the entire game has for your alliance and move on. If you care about starting the round off with a ton of roids you arent exactly playing for fun.

[lokken]

Originally Posted by JonnyBGood

Ascendancy managed that due to the fact that pretty much nobody knew where all our planets were though because we had no defence interaction. And if I recall correctly jester said sid pmed him a few days before we tagged up to congratulate him so even then the knowledge was out there. The best exilition could manage would be somewhat similar to a r17 1up scenario and to be honest if everyone fell for that again we might as well just call the game off and go back to the National Tiddlywinks Championship (I believe it's in Sussex this year!)

Sussex is but 10 minutes away on my bike so it's not a problem. People will no doubt highlight the problem of support planets and the like, which aren't exactly the easiest to pin down.

I just wouldn't waste my time hitting exilition straight off if I was an alliance HC if I had an agreement, as outlined, with a few other alliances. Of course right now some asshole is probably thinking "hay what if my alliance allied with exilition and they could boost us into first". I'm serious if you're thinking this kill yourself.

Surely it will happen.

As regards "doing themselves justice", cartman's last post in this thread (questionable of course) outlines a slightly different emphasis.

Well exactly.