The Economist ~ Day 1

Day 2,275, 10:54 • Published in Poland United Kingdom • by Spite313



Dear friends,


Yesterday saw the formation of the Asteria alliance, a new power on the world stage. Today saw it’s first test as the opposition bloc (which includes me for bias, in case you didn’t know) attacked Romania. Romania, along with Serbia, Greece, Hungary, Argentina and Slovenia are founding members of Hysteria, and they expected a big effort defending them.


Now let me tell you the honest truth- Romania fought like tigers. First round we won by a whisker, and it was a nervous time in our HQ I can tell you. The second round was no easier with big BH and big CO on both sides. However during the third round, this died off, and Romania gave the battle up shortly afterwards.


Now it’s impossible for me to give analysis about something I am so involved in, so let me be honest and say what follows is my opinion. Romania fought hard through the first three rounds. I saw a lot of Slovenian avatars there too- hardly any surprise since the Slovenians are always at the front row of helping allies. Serbia had a big presence in the first round, pushing hard but ultimately losing. However, during that first battle, RWs opened in Bosnia and Apulia (Serbia’s resource bridge). Shortly after the start of round 2, Serbia started diverting resources to those battles. And shortly after that, everything collapsed.


Hungary too was notably absent- at least on the Romanian side. Hungarian fighters hit for Poland through the first two rounds despite the fact Poland, acknowledging their decision to choose Serbia, cut through their resource bridge to get to Romania. I’m not saying that those fighters love Poland (though some might, there are strong friendships there), but rather they are protesting against their government ramming them face first into Hysteria with the Romanians.





Greece too was half the force it could have been. Everyone knows Greeks are some of the greatest fighters in the game, but with two of their biggest MUs and many players from other MUs protesting the government’s decision, we saw Myrmidons smashing down the wall in Bosnia against Serbia. And elsewhere too- Greeks held BH in Apulia and for Poland in their own RWs.


Most of the countries in Hysteria I would consider old friends. I respect all of them. Serbia for their ferocity and determination, Romania and Hungary for their strategy, Greece for their power on the battlefield, Argentina for their commitment to allies (well sometimes), Slovenia of course for their ability to just appear and save the day. They are all great countries, and great assets to have in an alliance. The problem is that many of them don’t go together very easily.


This was a big problem for us too, when we were building our own rival bloc. We had to consider the relationship of every member with every other member. As I said to the Greek people when they were polled, we chose the slow, safe route over the fast risky one. Rather than take for granted people’s support, we said 60% for an alliance still means 40% against, and it’s hard to fight when 40% of your population disagrees with your choice of target.


Now we have a small compact core of countries on our side, which work together incredibly well. Inside our alliance we have almost no real disagreements on anything, and we have a lot of skilled organisers to handle the military side of things. You saw the effect of that today. I was just an observer like most of you, and watching the oiled machine at work was very impressive- it made it look easy. It reminded me again why I am not a general in this game.





But ultimately our greatest ally wasn’t our organisation, our leadership and definitely not our numerical superiority (at the minute we have a serious damage deficit). It was Hysteria’s lack of all these things. It has been built as a true “damagehood”- made from scrabbling for as much damage as possible post-TWO by Serbian leaders. Those leaders have let down everyone in their alliance by grasping for too much, too early. As a result it is a broken alliance, internally divided not just on an international but a national level too. We might be weaker on paper, but because of that we are stronger on the battlefield.


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. We lose in all divisions on paper. But we are the better alliance. People chose based on false assumptions which are only now becoming apparent. The new alliance had the potential of being a hugely strong alliance to dominate the balkans. But it was rushed, and now it’s shedding damage and diplomacy.


Whatever happens tomorrow, today has been a bad first day for Hysteria.


Iain




[22:20:01] we'll beat their s*^t off
[22:20:07] if they touch romania


Ps. Join me watching Clopoyaur tonight, he's a mature funny guy who talks about eRepublik. And a Romanian! So don't call me biased 😛