The Economist ~ IF--

Day 2,278, 08:00 • Published in Poland United Kingdom • by Spite313



Dear friends,


Yesterday Asteria achieved a big victory over Sirius, defeating us in Romania and then pushing us back out of France and Germany with a series of coordinated resistance wars. It was a good fight well fought by them, and I offer my honest congratulations on their achievement. I’ve had a few messages on the lines of “haha where is your all powerful alliance now?!” I’d not normally bother responding to the semi-literate types who send those kind of messages, but let me quote from the article they obviously did not rea😛

Today’s battle was never about winning, though we’re glad to plant our flag on Romanian soil. It was about sending a message. We are organised and united, and we are the better alliance. Not the stronger.

As I said then, so is true now. We lack damage, and I was surprised we won the first battle, however we are more united and have, I believe, more potential.


Let me show you a poem by Rudyard Kipling- one of my favourites and one I’ve quoted before. It is probably the most famous poem by him here in the UK, as it sums up what is seen as the British ideal we all strive towards.


If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too:
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream---and not make dreams your master;
If you can think---and not make thoughts your aim,
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same:.
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build'em up with worn-out tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings,
And never breathe a word about your loss:
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings---nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much:
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And---which is more---you'll be a Man, my son!





On the actual day of the battle we made a lot of mistakes, and I share responsibility for that. We planned inadequately, damage was diverted and we didn’t manage to focus our damage as we did the day before. What’s more, Romania managed to gain the support of it’s alliance, and we faced the full force of Asteria for the first time.


Our attack on Romania was a gamble, and in a way we risked everything on it. As it says in the poem, sometimes you have to risk everything on a single toss of the dice- we did and we lost, but I’m not going to whine about it. We’ll get back to picking up the pieces of that defeat and fight elsewhere. To my readers from Asteria, take heed of another line of the poem- “...if you can meet with Triumph and Disaster, and treat those two imposters just the same…”. Don’t crow too loudly about your victory this time, but instead build for the future.


For my readers in Sirius, take heart. Every great general knows the ultimate secret to war is to turn your weakness to a strength. This defeat has seen us lose Poland’s bonuses- one of the economic props of our new alliance. However it has it’s advantages. We could have chosen to fight every battle and regain bonuses as quickly as possible, however the Polish government has chosen to allow the determination to reset. That means those regions are meaningless- they can hit as hard as they like, and we lose nothing.


Our strength is our focus, and we have it now. We won’t be diverted to protect regions, now we can only attack. And don’t worry- we will attack. So prepare your weapons, energy bars and food. We have nothing to lose and everything to gain. We will teach them the error of their ways. One battle and they have arrogantly claimed victory- where we showed surprise and thanks, they can only troll and gloat.


To my friends and allies- remember always to be the bigger man in this. It isn’t about what we achieve, it’s about how we achieve it. Don’t troll, show respect, and we don’t just win on the battlefield, we win in the hearts and minds of every player worth the name. To all my readers- after a year of TWO domination and easy victories, is the game not fun again? Are you not entertained?


See you on the battlefield o/


Iain