There is definitely an unjustified sense of entitlement within NR. NR did not win, no matter how you try to spin it. Being the biggest does not mean that you have won, nor does it mean that you're the best. You had the chance to prove you were the best on the battlefield and, despite your far greater size, you failed to do so.
Personally, I think there was a massive amount of complacency within NR and a large group who were happy to hide in the shadows of some very good players and just walk to victory, I have absolutely no sympathy for those players. I do have sympathy for the players that were carrying them, but as has been said repeatedly, this is both a war game and a strategy game. You failed to beat us in war and now, by making more strategic mistakes, you have failed to beat us on strategy. NR is only ‘winning’ on points at the moment, and that means nothing. It is quite possible to dominate any game and still lose and I'm afraid that's what's happened here. This game is not just about brute force, you have to play smart.
Sable, you claim you only made one mistake, but if you actually believe that then you are clearly just not very good at the strategy side of things. Be honest, this isn't an interview, nobody asked you what your biggest fault was...
I agree that it's a good thing not to restrict players in alliances, but to claim that this was your only mistake is delusional, dishonest or naive.
As a recent example, it was quite easy for us to make it near impossible for you to take either of 2 world wonder cities, but you didn't need to take either of those cities to prevent us winning. You could have taken a city on any of the four islands that gave us victory. Had you tried to do that you would have had 80 potential targets and that would have been much harder for us to defend. It still may not have been easy for you but it wouldn't have been easy for us either and, had you succeeded, it would have forced a 3-3 stalemate and made you favourites to win again... oops.
Don't get me wrong, I have a great deal of respect for many in NR, particularly (but by no means only) Muwa who not only managed to hold a lot of big egos together in relative harmony, but also acted as the battering ram that a lot of you hid behind in the early days, just as Mal & Boom did for us. I think a lot of people underestimate how much having a big player on their side influences their progress and I believe things would be very different had he not been the one leading the way - being a good player isn't enough to be successful in this game.
Unfortunately I have lost all respect for Sable and Babs for turning a situation that they should rightly be annoyed and even angry about into a personal issue with Mal. That's unacceptable. If you viewed Mal as a friend before then you should still feel that way now, or at least after you've had a little while to calm down. If you don't then I don't believe you were friends in the first place. It seems to me that you were happy to be 'friends' as long as we let you win, which is ridiculous.
The 18 months that you've invested in Troy is no more valuable than the time the rest of us have spent there. If you consider it a waste because you didn't get a win then that's really your issue to deal with, not Mal's. The fun is in the journey, if it wasn't nobody would hang around to finish such a long game at all.
As I've said, I am sympathetic to those I respect in NR for having their expected victory stolen from them, and for the way in which we turned the game so abruptly at the end, but I absolutely stand behind every decision that was made on our side. We were trying to win just as you were and, despite Sable's protestations, we did not have a win at all costs mentality, but that doesn't mean we were going to lie down and hand you the victory.
When I was first told that there was somebody inside NR that wanted to cross over I was against it, but when I realised that it was a former TR player who had only recently joined NR, essentially being given the old join or leave ultimatum, that completely changed things for me. It was a leadership decision for NR to recruit Brave Lord, so leadership has to take the responsibility for the consequences of that decision, it's all part of the game. Nobody duped you into taking him and we have nothing to be embarrassed or ashamed about for capitalizing on your mistakes.
There is nothing wrong with recruiting through force, everybody does it to an extent (don't they Mal?) However, I would question NR's decision to continue doing this so close to WW, particularly from an alliance that is so anti NR and one that a number of you have openly mocked on this forum. Perhaps you were thinking that anyone would be happy to just jump on the bandwagon, or maybe you underestimated the hostility there was towards you within TR (I think I probably did), but it clearly wasn’t a good decision.
Having recruited BL, I think it was another poor decision not to at least keep an eye on his actions after he joined. The very fact that he appeared so keen to get wonder island cities, which Sable seems to be saying proves he was a plant (I hope you haven't been on jury duty), should have thrown up a red flag. In that situation there is no way I would have built a wonder on an island that he was on.
I don't believe BL was a plant, but it is possible that he was (there is no way that we can know so I really think it’s pointless arguing about it). I don't know what his intentions were, nor how they changed over time. He could well have planned his move from the time he was recruited but kept it to himself, something could have influenced him while he was in NR, or he could have just wanted to have an impact on the world (which he did, his actions decided the victors). Ultimately, only he will know the truth and whatever he says there will be a proportion of people that don't believe him.
I don't think he was a plant because he was recruited at a time of extreme weakness, I would assume at that time he was just glad to still be in the game, not thinking about undermining NR. Had he been completely happy and made to feel welcome I would be surprised if he would have jumped, but that possibility was always there and you never know how someone is going to react to being forced to join, especially so far into the game when they’ve already forged friendships elsewhere - it's part of the game and something that leadership should have been aware of. You recruited him, you allowed him onto your wonder islands, you have to live with the consequences.
As far as I can see you can view the situation in two ways:
1, BL was planted, which means that you got played by TR. If that's the case then I have to say congratulations to TR; that was brilliant. The alliance that so many NR players have been publicly mocking stopped you from winning (maybe that mockery wasn't so wise in hindsight). You’ll disagree, but I think that's hilarious.
2, BL wasn't planted but had his own reasons for wanting to leave, in which case you got beaten 'hare & tortoise' style by an alliance that simply made less strategic mistakes than you did. (Sable, take note of the 'less.' I admit that we made mistakes, it doesn't make me a worse player.)
Take your pick.
We knew from the outset that we'd have to maximise every advantage we could gain in order to compete against the NR size advantage and stand a chance of winning. That is what we did and there is absolutely nothing wrong with it. You got beaten to 4 wonders because you were outplayed on one level or another, it doesn't bother me which you believe it was or how outraged you feel about it, you have only been wronged by your own decisions.
If the roles were reversed I have absolutely no doubt that you would have used the situation to your advantage. In fact, I seem to remember you inviting players that were on our wonder islands not two months ago, how would that have been any different had they joined you? You would have compromised our wonders in order to make things easier for yourselves and yet we're apparently despicable for doing the same. I'm not buying it.
Personally, I was surprised that we were even able to keep pace with NR in the early days of WW. A lot of players within our alliance really stepped up and contributed a lot more than I was expecting them to. As a result I believe we over performed in comparison to NR and had we not then we simply wouldn't have had a chance. We were only in a position to capitalize on BL's move because of this immense group effort, and even with it NR could have stopped us if they'd focused the building of the 5 other wonders differently.
It took a lot of luck and sacrifice to get ourselves into that winning position and I am incredibly grateful to everyone in TNR for their contribution. As of 20:43 TNR are ‘victors of the world’ and I’d like to publicly thank and congratulate them on their victory.
Now the battle for all 7 wonders begins…
Apologies for the mammoth post, I obviously had a lot to say.