Hello readers, and welcome to the first edition of the W16 blog. This is also my first real blog, so any feedback is greatly appreciated. Any comments can be posted in my blog thread in the W16 forums, or using the comment section available at the bottom of this thread. Enjoy!
The main topic of this blog will be the recent merge between Plight and LSHRV, and the shuffle of players between the two tribes and *MK*, but since this is the first W16 blog, I would also like to include some back round information on what lead up to this point in the world.
The original war between LSHRV and C² began on September 15, 2009. Coincidently, the day before ~LS~ had merged into =HRV=. What followed was an interesting argument. Players from LSHRV claimed that it was unfair that C² was declaring right when a merge was taking place. MichielK, amongst others, pointed out that C² had prepared for the war, and had set the date for the 15th, with no prior knowledge of the merge (http://forum.tribalwars.net/showpost.php?p=4229181&postcount=20). He even went on to point out the main disadvantage C² now faced, the fact that C² was in essence fighting two tribes, and half of the frontline was unprepared for the war.
In any case, C² did jump out to grab the lead, 29-2, in the first day. Though the lead never changed, there were hiccups along the way. LSHRV launched several counter-ops in the beginning, and part-way through the war C² experienced the loss of a leader and the trouble in finding a replacement, not to mention the many players on either side going inactive or being replaced. Both sides tried to balance out their losses with a new income of members, C² taking in members from TKR and Bang!, and even taking in Robonot and Kreamer, later another hiccup in itself, while LSHRV ended their war with Sunny to recruit them. Eventually, LSHRV began to see a larger loss in members until the first member of LSHRV moved to Plight at 19:08ST on October 3. At the time, the war stats were as follows:
Side 1:
Tribes: C²
Side 2:
Tribes: =HRV=
Timeframe: 15/09/2009 00:00:00 to 03/10/2010 19:08:00
Total conquers against opposite side:
Side 1: 2,290
Side 2: 664
Difference: 1,626
Points value of total conquers against opposite side:
Side 1: 21,768,048
Side 2: 6,205,784
Difference: 15,562,264
This war went on for quite some time before Plight decided to war C². The war was mutually agreed upon to start on June 26, 2010. On the 25th, both tribes declared on each other. Twenty-four hours after the start of the war, C² had a small lead of 5-3. A day later, the lead jumped to 25-5, and since then C² continued to hold the lead. At the beginning of the LSHRV/Plight merge, the war stats stood at:
Side 1:
Tribes: C²
Side 2:
Tribes: Plight
Timeframe: 26/06/2010 00:00:00 to 03/10/2010 19:08:00
Total conquers against opposite side:
Side 1: 519
Side 2: 389
Difference: 130
Points value of total conquers against opposite side:
Side 1: 4,848,485
Side 2: 3,662,049
Difference: 1,186,436
During the early stages of this war, there were accusations of players playing “musical chairs” in an attempt to deflate the stats. For simplicity and neutrality’s sake, these players were left off the above war stats.
What followed was a fairly unremarkable war. C² continued to slowly push on Plight, LSHRV (now SF), and *MK*, who was obviously on Plight’s side, though their part in the war was questionable. Brief flares of extra activity from either side would occur when a player would go inactive and turn grey or when an argument on the public forums was started, or when weak points were found in the opposing side, such as O No Man for Plight or jjsw123 for C², but for the most part, things remained relatively quiet as Plight, SF, and *MK* slowly yielded ground. It seemed apparent that C² would win if nothing changed.
On October 3, a change was made with the possibility of turning the war around. SF merged in to Plight. Many players moved to Plight, while some from both Plight and SF, possibly inactive accounts, moved in to *MK*. The following map, after a full completion of the merge, shows what the world looks like today, with Plight near to rivaling C² in size.
With such a major event, so late in the world, I wanted to get several different views on the merge. I would like to thank Adamjrose2, AxlTheCat, and The Gammy 1 for agreeing to do interviews with me.
First off is Adamjrose2, a C² member, warring against Plight:
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Justin/Jurasu: Hello. Thank you for agreeing to help with this interview. For the readers’ benefit, would you please introduce yourself?
Adam / adamjrose2: I am adamjrose2, a council member of C².
Justin/Jurasu: An LSHRV/Plight merge has been a possibility for some time now. Personally, why do you think that it may not have occurred before now?
Adam / adamjrose2: I had heard there was some bad blood between the various leaders and that the SF leadership may not have wanted to admit that the end had come for their tribe.
Justin/Jurasu: So you believe that any bad blood, had there really been any, has been worked out between the two tribes now that they have merged?
Adam / adamjrose2: I think salvkas more or less left the game, and that the SF leadership was desperate. We were taking twenty villages off them in bad weeks.
Justin/Jurasu: Bad weeks in relation to C²’s performance, or to LSHRV’s?
Adam / adamjrose2: C²’s
Justin/Jurasu: Some people seem to think there is no difference after the merge except for LSHRV members assuming the Plight name. Do you think differently, and why?
Adam / adamjrose2: I expect more of the same, possibly a slight surge in activity for a short time, but I don’t see the grand scheme of things changing at all.
Justin/Jurasu: So far, LSHRV and Plight were losing in their wars against C². What do you attribute this to? Do you think that Plight can change this?
Adam / adamjrose2: I don’t want to comment on the first part, but I do not see plight changing this. If I tell them what’s wrong they might fix it.
Justin/Jurasu: After the merge, Plight is close to C²’s size, and has more players. With *MK* added in, Plight/*MK* surpass C² in number of villages, and by far in number of players. Normally numbers count for a lot in war, yet the war has gone in favor of the smaller side. Do you believe that numbers don’t mean so much in this war? Or is it possible that it is indeed an advantage, yet some other factor in the war outweighs this advantage?
Adam / adamjrose2: C²’s enemies have outnumbered it since the start of the war, especially considering that Plight was heavily supporting LSHRV before they officially declared war. Numbers only mean something if they can be brought to bear. I believe that C²’s smaller number of players has helped its cause, because each and every player does his or her part. The more players, the harder coordination is.
Justin/Jurasu: Do you think that Plight can still manage to turn the tides of this war? What would have to be done to succeed in this?
Adam / adamjrose2: I think its possible, but only because anything is possible. I do not see it as likely though. I will also again have to remain silent on the second part.
Justin/Jurasu: Do you have any other questions or concerns you wish to discuss that I did not cover in this interview?
Adam / adamjrose2: I would like to voice my respect for HRV/LSHRV/SF, even though they ended up losing. They were a great tribe that left its mark on W16, not only dominating the actions in the southeast, but also making their influence felt for every major tribe.
Justin/Jurasu: Ok, thanks again Adam for the interview. I really appreciate it
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Next is AxlTheCat, a long-time member of =HRV=/LSHRV/SF and now a member of Plight:
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Justin/Jurasu: Ok, so for the readers’ benefit, would you please introduce yourself?
AxlTheCat: Hi, I’m Tom, aka AxlTheCat. My cat is a 16 year old cat, rescued from a barn when he was a kitten. He was all dirty, and my wife named him after Axl Rose.
Justin/Jurasu: What position(s), if any, do you hold in Plight?
AxlTheCat: None.
Justin/Jurasu: You’ve been a constant member in LSHRV since the beginning of the war. Why has LSHRV only now decided to merge into Plight? Why not earlier?
AxlTheCat: You’ll have to ask someone who is currently active in w16. I have only played my account for a fraction of the war. I wasn’t surprised when I saw the news on the public forum; =HRV= wanted to merge with Plight a month before the C² war started.
Justin/Jurasu: So =HRV= did want to merge with Plight, and it was Plight holding out?
AxlTheCat: Plight was in the process of taking in Orc when the Orc/BANG! merge fell apart. That took them to 80 members, so =HRV= ended up merging with ~LS~. I wonder how the world would have turned out if Plight and =HRV= merged a year ago. Would C2 have held off attacking, or gone ahead and attacked a rather larger tribe at the time?
Justin/Jurasu: Some people think there is no real difference after the merge than there was before. They claim that all that changed was that some people assumed the Plight tag, and some the *MK* tag. Do you think differently, and why?
AxlTheCat: Internal nobling into what was formerly another tribe’s area may allow Plight to move different players into new areas. I know I would have enjoyed attacking some noobs up in the northwest part of the world rather than facing Adam/rag/funkmun/madzerg/racal/Jeor, and of course you.
Justin/Jurasu: So far, LSHRV and Plight were losing their respective wars against C². What would you, personally, attribute this to? Is it something that C² is doing right, something that Plight/LSHRV were doing wrong, or would it be some combination of the two?
AxlTheCat: I would attribute it to C² managing to gather enough quality, active players together, and keeping them happy. The attrition in C² has been quite low in the past year. It is very difficult to noble villages from an active, quality player when he is surrounded by other active, quality players. C² has done a great job of finding unstacked villages, nibbling its way through a frontline, and not worrying about having things renobled. As often as not, the villages don’t get renobled.
Justin/Jurasu: After the merge, looking at numbers only, we can see that Plight is close to being the same size as C² when counting villages, and has extra players. With *MK* added in, the Plight side now leads in villages numbers by over 5k villages, and over 40 extra players. Normally, many people would consider having greater numbers to be an advantage in a war, yet Plight is still losing. Would you disagree with numbers being an advantage, or do you think that there is some other factor that is unbalancing the advantage numbers do supply? Perhaps the slow world speed or something similar?
AxlTheCat: Size doesn’t matter. It’s what you do with it that matters. I will take your word for it that C² is winning at this moment, as I haven’t checked any stats lately. Assuming it is so, then I would imagine that focused activity is the difference. A snapshot of the world at this second would probably be very revealing. I would be interested in knowing how many nukes are currently travelling from C² to Plight villages, and vice versa. I assume C² is leading in that category. Counting villages at this stage of a world is meaningless. It’s what is being done with them that counts. Plight would appear to be the underdog.
Justin/Jurasu: At this point in the game, do you still think Plight can turn the tides of this war? If so, what would they have to do to accomplish this?
AxlTheCat: I would encourage former CND members to join Shveik’s January 2011 tribe, and see them get bored with w16 and quit there. All kidding aside, the tribe that can keep enough active players will win in the end. I would imagine that the closing on w12 and the upcoming closing of w18 will bolster players in both tribes to stick it out longer than they might have if they thought there was no end in sight. My prediction: One side will mass delete in 2011, leaving the other side as the winner.
Justin/Jurasu: So just to be clear, you still think that Plight has at least a chance at coming back and winning?
AxlTheCat: There are some very good players in Plight. If they can figure out how to stop the not so good players from bleeding villages, then the war will turn into the gammy/endemonadia (sp?) war. A boring, boring war, where the likelihood of C² members quitting from boredom increases.
Justin/Jurasu: Maybe the C²/CND war would be a better example of what could happen?
AxlTheCat: Let’s make one thing clear; people can talk about the “war stats” all they want to on the pubs, but being ahead by a few dozen or a few hundred villages in war conquers is meaningless when there are 20,000 villages out there. The winner of the war will be the tribe that deletes their accounts last. The difference with the C²/CND war was that the tribes could merge to end the war. There will be no more mergers on w16.
Justin/Jurasu: I was referring more to how slow the war was and how hard it was to take villages from the other side
AxlTheCat: Yes. The tribes got bored with the war and then merged. Not having that option to merge may cause some interesting events in the next few months.
Justin/Jurasu: Are there any other questions or concerns that I did not cover, yet you still wish to discuss on this topic? This is your chance to say whatever you want about the merge and the future of this war.
AxlTheCat: No, I’m good. Not being personally invested in it, I don’t really have a lot to say about it.
Justin/Jurasu: Nether the less, I do appreciate your participation and sharing your opinions with me and for the use of the blog
AxlTheCat: It was my pleasure.
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Last was The Gammy 1, the sole member of B~N~H, where he has been residing for quite some time in this war. He seemed to be an interesting third party as he has been against C² so far in this war, but has obviously set himself apart from Plight and LSHRV/SF for most of the conflict as well:
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Jurasu: Hello. Thank you for agreeing to help with this interview. For the readers’ benefit, would you please introduce yourself?
Gammy: I am playing The gammy 1 account, formerly dunbop of ~I~.
Jurasu: For a long time, you have been alone in B~N~H. Why is that?
Gammy: Simply put, the lack of leadership in LSHRV.
Jurasu: What part does B~N~H play in the world? What are your goals that you may be trying to accomplish?
Gammy: Right now I don’t play any roles in this world. For a long while my main role was supporting my former tribe mates in the war, both offensively and defensively. A goal I’ve had for a while was to gather all the active players fighting against C², into one tribe. As I see that will probably never happen, I must now search for a new goal! 
Jurasu: It is acknowledged that, although acting as a separate entity, you have been a part of the war between C² and LSHRV. Why did you not join the merge when the rest of LSHRV went to Plight?
Gammy: I suggested that merge about 6-8 months ago, while we had more active players around and while C² was smaller (than they are now). The lack of urgency and the serious procrastination was a major deterrent. LSHRV leadership Lolly-gagging around and not being aggressive is why C² has dominated this war. I ultimately chose not to join on principle.
Jurasu: Several players have stated on the forums that the merge doesn’t really mean anything, that it is the same group of people, just under a different name for some. Do you believe this to be true? Why or why not?
Gammy: If the merge had been done right, it would make a difference, but when good active players still harbor the inactives and noobs…
Jurasu: Thus far, Plight and *MK*, as well as LSHRV before the merge, were losing to C² in their wars. What do you think has contributed to this so far? Is it something that C² is doing right, or something that the other sides have been doing wrong? Maybe it’s a combination of both?
Gammy: Inactivity has been the major thorn in all of our sides, except C². I can’t speak for Plight or *MK*, but in LSHRV, we had a serious breakdown in organizing priorities. At times there were too many cooks in the kitchen, for our own good, with no singular force recognized as the leader. C² has been dominating because they are organized and aggressive.
Jurasu: After the merge, Plight is nearly equal in size to C² with 14 extra players. With *MK* included, the lead jumps to a little over 5k villages, with 44 extra players. If B~N~H is added into the mix, the lead is about 6k villages with 45 extra players. Looking at just the numbers, it would seem to be more likely that Plight/*MK*/B~N~H would be winning this war. However, they are not. Do you think that numbers are exaggerated and don’t really mean as much in this game, or do you believe that they are an advantage, yet some other factor has been affecting the Plight side in a negative fashion that unbalances the advantage of having greater numbers?
Gammy: The numbers mean nothing when you still have 25 or so people with less than 2 mil points. Harboring inactives and noobs can’t be tolerated in a tribe that is losing and needs to produce more villages to put in the hands of active players.
Jurasu: Overall, do you think this new merge will help turn the tides of this war? Plight members think so, while many C² members disagree, so what do you, acting as a third party to this event, think about it?
Gammy: I think the merge, at this point, is a fail. That has nothing to do with the players, but more so the direction of leadership. When you hear hooves, think horses not zebras. Every plan doesn’t have to be a 500 page engineering marvel that NASA has to approve of. The turnaround time for actions to take place is what is hurting the mission against C². Leadership needs to start thinking outside of the box. C² has had the advantage just about every step of every day in the war. It’s time for those with creative ops to shine.
Jurasu: Do you have any other questions or concerns about recent events or about the near future in W16 that I may not have covered in this interview that you wish to discuss?
Gammy: No
Jurasu: Thanks Gammy, I really appreciate it.
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The interview results were interesting. All three, though maybe leaning towards one side or the other, seemed to stay neutral and only say that the war has not been decided yet, that C² can continue to win, or that Plight can turn things around.
In truth, neutrality is deserved right now. Past history in this war shows C² as the favorite, yet this new merge gives Plight a chance to climb their way back in to the fight. How this will play out remains to be seen.
Thank you all for reading my blog this week, and I hope you return next week. Until then, your W16 blogger and fellow spreader of carnage,
~Jurasu
My aim in this post was to give some back round info on the world since this is the first blog. That way, those who read this but don’t play W16 know how we got to this point.
It probably took me a few hours to write this all out, but that was largely due to doing it over several days because of interruptions and also trying to figure out how to configure the settings here to make it appear like I wanted it to.
How long did this take you to write? Because it took me 15 minutes to read. That was a good blog. If someone who had never played world 16 before read this, i think they might know now
Will be interesting to see how this blog goes depending on the war…