Actually, at the start of the WW era Merge Coalition had about 1100 players and the anti-coalition of HM, Fluffs, TUS, BTNB, MM, etc. had slightly less than 600 players. As such -it was never a case of "relatively even numbers." This is why our strategy was not to go all in on beating that giant coalition in the race to build 4.
The bottom line is that 120 players on the Merge side got the certificate for building 4... but they promised another 1,000 players crowns in exchange for those 1,000 players delivering resources to get their self-proclaimed nobility their certificates.
Our goal was to prevent that from happening on this world and show how to do it in future worlds. i.e. when you are out-numbered by this style - just focus on building 1 or 2 WWs to prevent the slaves from getting cheap crowns. Merge having "already sipped their wine" had nothing to do with it. They tried two massive WW busts against us - but the plans and execution were so awful that they miserably failed. This is because our alliances were for the most part full of fighters - - while they were for the most part full of simmers and noobs. i.e. the type of players more likely to jump at the chance at a cheap crown offered by the EN-inspired coalition strategy. However - I will say that there are a lot of good fighters over there - but not enough to offset the dead weight they had to carry.
This fact drove their stupid WW island strategy (lack of trust in the overall quality of their players), which ultimately made it relatively easy for us to break their WW(s). You may not believe it - but this was our strategy. I will share the MMs we sent our people way before it all happened.
Anyway - you had one thing right - Chill was a star in this world.
I would have to agree with Chad on this one...it's very accurate as to the situation from our side of the equation. Particularly with design of the coalition...which I had a hand in for BTNB/Fluff until towards the end of the initial completion of the first 4.
Chad, I would say this though - I think that the "noobs" were spread out throughout the world and several alliances, however...just sayin'. HM may not have had them, but many other alliances did, and we helped several players grow and become better grepo players. Other "noobs", well...some were not as committed to the situation, and don't adopt a steep learning curve as quickly (whether or not this is related to available time or desire to play...who knows).
To call those who were within those alliances supporting Merge "slaves"...I prefer the term "worker bees". They could come or go if they had wanted to. Their leadership was given several opportunities to split this back up into what would have been a more "fun" scenario for all...ultimately it's unfortunate that they don't recieve a crown based on leadership decisions, as several are worthy players and "good people". I choose to not diminish the work that they did or the contributions that they made to helping Merge win the 4 - I do hope that it helps them fairly evaluate and have a better "long term" perspective for their next world, and wish them the best.
There are players in the world who thrive on the battle, and those that thrive on supporting and building. I have always been the first of those types...and I had
very little appreciation for the other prior to this world. I will say that I learned that it takes a selective balance of those players and good evaluation by leaders of applicants as opposed to taking in every Tom, Di*k (short for Richard, moronic mods) or Harry that sends a request for an invite. Miinimally "simmers" who will contribute to the team and have a "team spirit" as a priority above their own building and city growth have their place in the world - IF you want to build WW. Otherwise, it takes a lot to put together a team of very active fighters whom are willing to give up fighting to sit around and build...don't forget that either. It's not easy for that kind of personality to sit and be "bored to tears".