[CP] Good Form, Peter

Day 1,647, 07:25 • Published in Canada Canada • by Sperry


My cat has left me a wonderful present. When he’s not meowing about food or sleeping in awkward places, he leaves these presents, and today it’s in a particularly fun spot. Underneath my desk. So I cannot stretch out my feet and lounge about, or I will be lounging about in cat vomit. Now I know what you’re thinking - but Sperry, you could just clean it up! But I’m Sperry, and that means I don’t bend over for just anything (hurr hurr). So the vomit stays for now.



Britain Makes a Good Showing

Give credit where credit is due. After our total wipe of Britain was complete, our region count quickly decreased as TEDEN turned their eyes elsewhere and Britain started up their regular series of resistances. Most recently, they won a resistance in East Midlands, our last Oil region in the colonies and our 20% “gee this would be fun” bonus. Yes, we fought there. And so did Britain. In the end the battle dipped into the 15th and final round, stretching through both nations’ prime times and leading to a crapton of tanking in the final round.

Like London, this was a region that both nations wanted to get a hold of. Different reasons, but the same buttons were pushed, and so fight there we did. And yes, we lost. All of my lovely British readers may happily rejoice at that. NWG, a relatively new tank, lay down over 28 million through the length of the battle, mostly in the final round. An expensive but amusing thing to watch, I assure you.

So what now? Does “mighty” Britain (yeah, okay there) declare Canada as their Natural Enemy? Does “arrogant” Canada do the same to teach them a lesson? Well, I guess either could happen. I know there are higher-ups on both sides asking for that. Hell, common citizens are asking for it just about every day. I don’t know if Appleby will. I don’t know if his replacement will be in the mood for it. What I do know, is that these back-and-forth battles are genuinely boring. While we’ve dug our feet in on a few resistance fights (3 or 4, I think), it’s not because we want Britain to uphold it’s “well they’re closest!” status in the minds of our citizens.

And yes, which losing oil does drop us down to a 40% resource bonus - I’m really not at all concerned. Most Canadians will see literally no change in lieu of this “20%” drop. 20% used to mean a huge hit to the economy, with major funding implications across the board. Simply put, it doesn’t matter nearly that much anymore. My daily profit has dropped about 10 CAD from the shift. 10 CAD, when I need 2000 of it to pick up a gold bar.

Obviously more resources is better - it always is. But don’t let the whiney grandpa players mislead you - the resource module is losing relevance, fast, because “20%” doesn’t amount to a pile of beans for most players, and many of our MUs already supply from stocks or from overseas. Oil’s cool to have, and it makes Albertans a little less sad. But with Plato being a tool (sorry bud), y’ain’t losing much.


Hungary Cannot Into Aquitaine

Yesterday I called Hungary cowardly. This got ONE rather upset, as they apparently don’t like the suggestion that one of their Power Players is a wimpy also-ran who will only invade if they stack the deck in their favour. Iain and the rest of them are ‘right’ that this is a strategic choice - just about everything in the war module is a strategic choice. But it’s also a wimpy one. It’s one where you need larger Poland or grander Serbia to guarantee the win, where the idea of fighting America alone (let alone with Canada too) has kept the Huns behind their French wall for most of my term.

In the realm of eRep strategy, retreating when you aren’t surrounded by Serbia and Poland is akin to weak political months: this strategy is as respectable as pulling a Kazuo and only winning when there’s nobody else in the room. Now I understand that it’s not Canada they’re running from, it’s TEDEN, and a second front with that alliance network is probably a bad idea. But let’s not walk around saying “oh Canada we ‘gun wipe you!” if you’re not even willing to try.

When Hungary failed to get into Aquitaine, they also started a battle to retreat from America, opening a Brittany-like battle in the Loire Valley, which acts as a bottleneck to their American border. So much for that NE they so skillfully declared. This morning they sent another raid on Brittany - heading in our direction. Cool, Hungary. Go for it.

I have no problem fighting a direct war against Hungary. I’m not worried. I have no problem if Britain decides then would be a good time to NE us, and I have no problem if you threaten to wipe us. This is a game. If you’re not willing to roll with the big boys, then you’d better log out and play Sim City. Turn on the Disaster option, and let’s have some UFOs.


Spain Takes a Pounding

Spain is not doin’ so hot. After totally wiping Portugal (which sucked, but good job), they seemed to be doing alright - they threatened a border with us and their treaty with America was in good standing. Now, however, the Iberian Peninsula is a lulzy hotbead. While Terra’s been focused in France, EDEN has been driving the Chinese army in a where-the-fuck-are-you-going-Hannibal way through South America, straight into the Spanish border. This has been the deliberate route for a while, and now the Spanish are in trouble.

First, they’ve got Portugal, who have RW’d just about all of their regions back and who have stolen some of the Spanish core. Next, they’ve got China on their doorstep. China’s given up a lot in their usual colonies to get here, but now they’re ready to take on Spain at home and bring the country a war that isn’t as Old Hat as our fun with Britain. It’s difficult to tell how long this streak will last, and what it will take for ONE to give some love to their Spanish buddies. With the north blocked by the States, perhaps it’ll be a Serbia-China war that takes this already odd arrangement to confounding new levels.

I, for one, welcome our new amusing Europe Wars.


“I’m New and I Want to Write!”

This is a bit of a shout-out. Recently I’ve noticed a lot of players - young players - taking an interest in the media module. Shoi, Mordakai, Matt Carlm, and others like them are starting to notice something fairly basic: you don’t have to be an oldie to write a goodie.

I love sifting through the media module and checking out what people have written. It’s one of my daily rituals. I love jumping over to Britain and lurking their media, most particularly from younger players, who have started to take an interest in their country’s battles and are trying to figure out what all of it means. Which battles are really “won”, which ones matter, and which ones are just spin (on both sides)?

I remember my first article. 132 stories later, it’s still my most voted piece. You don’t need to be 500 to write. You don’t need to know all the answers to ask the questions. This game is even simpler today than it was then, so there’s nothing stopping you from taking up a very well-informed position and figuring things out from there.

If you’re young and you want to write, then write away. It’s the one module in this game where people will look to the merit of your words, and not your join date. Not everyone is an Alias Vision in their first article, but a lot of you stand a chance of becoming him. Keep at it. I love watching it work.