Let me ask you a simple question. when a player has over 45 cities, only has under 6,000 bps, never conquered a city, what do you call him.
I call him lucky. Lucky that even though he has never picked a fight and has founded all his cities, that nobody has dared to fight and take him down. I think this says something bad about this player's enemies as well.
My point was a bit pedantic really. If you want to call DOA an alliance full of simmers then that's fine. I would disagree with you but I would understand your accusation. MRA has nothing to do with the quality of a player and plenty of smaller alliances have rubbish players in them. It is perfectly possible to mass recruit good players, especially if a top alliance merges into another top alliance.
As far as wonders go DOA's problem is that it is a central alliance. It is easier to attack wonders in central oceans than it is to attack wonders in oceans closer to the edge of Delta. The only one of DOA's wonders that has not been attacked is in ocean 85 and that is no accident.
DOA's other problem is that it is too spread out and the command structure hasn't coped too well with the increased numbers. But I sure can guarantee to all out there that we are learning from our mistakes and will come back stronger than ever. DOA may have suffered some setbacks but that is all that has happened. Talk about the death of DOA is premature. DOA will survive and go on to new great things. Also DOA still dominates Delta and it will take something cataclysmic to change that.
The wonders race is not over. DOA almost won but DOA did not win and congratulations have to go to THWC for that.
DOA's rivals all have to be congratulated for their efforts in the wonders race and nobody is currently dominating.
Whilst I obviously hope DOA wins the wonders race, the simple truth is that I have no idea who will win the race, and for me that makes this game exciting!