After a brief one-week hiatus, we return to a dramatically changed political landscape in the continents of W52.

How have -MM- and -SWAT- gone from foes to friends in the short span of a few days?

What caused B52s to collapse, and with whom are they at war with now?

Plus an interview with the new face of -MM-!

Let’s get started with this week’s blog.

World Map – Top 10 Tribes

The only change we see this week is B52s, who fall from 4^th down to 6^th. Consequently, Phat and WET gain a rank, moving into the fourth and fifth positions respectively.

Other tribes stay static, but it’s worth noting that -MM- lost a considerable amount of points and a presence in K37 to a handful a members who apparently deserted and created a renegade tribe. This loss was not, however, substantial enough to dethrone them from the rank one spot.

Additionally, I have taken the liberty of aggregating all of the weekly maps since December 7th of last year into a single GIF! This should be quite exciting to watch; I find it easiest to watch one tribe all the way through and see how the grow over the course of months.

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-MM- and -SWAT-

-MM- and -SWAT- have been at war for a relatively short period; -SWAT- officially declared on 3/19.

Yesterday, however, the two tribes signed a peace accord:

As Fanged Nightmare put it, recently appointed co-duke of -MM-

“The reason [-SWAT-] declared was no longer valid. They declared to get revenge on Dave and to stop -MM- hitting them by surprise. Dave left, and I replaced him and I was already on good terms with a lot of -SWAT- members.” – Fanged Nightmare

Lavrikan3, duke of -SWAT-, said too that “Dave was the main problem” and thus, “because Dave had left” the two tribes found it mutually beneficial to entertain the idea of peace.

-SWAT- was clearly in the advantage in terms of stats:

** stats from declaration to peace agreement

Although -SWAT- could have potentially carried on with the war even after achieving their primary aim of removing Dave from power, they clearly saw it strategically better for the long term to seek peace. -MM- was, of course, not objecting, being already engaged on many other fronts as well.

Despite the controversy associated with -SWAT- and -MM-’s previous “alliance” before the war, the leaders today are looking to put that behind them, and are optimistic of their new diplomacy.

“I foresee it being a solid relationship.” – Lavrikan3

Under the terms of the peace agreement, -SWAT- requested that -MM- dismiss several of their northern members. Fanged Nightmare obliged, to popular outcry within -MM-.

ultimo5pam

fonzie11

adela888

taubnerussss

qqsky

drunkdog*

wilk83

fonezie11

arxx racer*

garbage picker*

rawr mode*

souppys

tomtom567

Of those players, Drukdog, Arzz Racer, Garbage Picker, and Rawr Mode are now members of -SWAT-.

Garbage Picker said that he “couldn’t fully trust Fanged after what happened.” Although he did then say he has “nothing against Fanged now” and “hopes there’re no hard feelings”, there is undoubtedly some residual tension.

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B52s

As we know, B52s has been at war with WET since 3/9. Surprisingly, the former has not put up much of a fight.

We can view those conquers in more mundane terms by looking at a map showing where exactly each tribe is nobling.

WET has gained large ground in their continents K54, K53, and K64, with B52s only managing to noble a few villages here and there on the outskirts.

The northeastern front is not the only location in which B52s is losing ground. As we can see by examining the larger map above of B52s, WET, and Bush, we see that Bush has gained an alarming amount of territory southwest to B52s.

On March 26^th, Homcgra1, xCaliburEagle, and Vivamexico81 left B52s and joined neighbor Bush. According to Homcgra1, who led the exodus, “a number of the active members in B52s are unhappy with the way the tribe is run.”

Though it was nowhere near prominently announced as Dave’s resignation from -MM-,  B52s’s duke Hells Toy Master retired from TribalWars two days prior, on March 24^th.

Since Hells Toy Master’s departure, B52s has fallen considerably from the #2 spot. My understanding is that currently, CanonLove and Knarley co-wield the duke position.

Homcgra1 indicated that several other members intend to transfer from B52s to Bush in the coming days, so, the question is, is B52s on its last legs?

Naturally, recruiting members from a tribe usually provokes retaliation. Bush’s duke, Jayshaw (KingJame$.), talked to me on the subject on 3/26.

“I mean no ill will towards B52s in any way.” – Jayshaw

However, his stance has obviously changed. Bush has not yet issued an official declaration on the externals, but just 18 hours ago, Bush declared war on B52s using the new in-game feature.

B52s parallels -MM- in a few regards: both had leaders that recently retired, leaving the tribe in times of necessity, and both had a group a players leave for a neighboring tribe. However, while -MM- appears to have sorted out their diplomacy and strengthened their leadership, B52s seems to be failing.

Will B52s suffer more members defecting in the coming days? Will their now twofold war against WET and Bush prove too difficult? What role will SOHK play? Is B52s approaching their eventual demise?

Things will accelerate rapidly in the next days, and we will find the answers to all those questions.

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Dave, through the Demented Intentions account and then Borg1966, saw -MM- through its inception until just two weeks ago. Now, however, members Fanged Nightmare and Ghanghis have stepped to the helm to captain the rank one tribe. Let’s get to know them a bit better, and learn about their plans for the future -MM-.

Syntex: Hey guys, thanks for taking the time for this interview

Ghanghis: Hi there, it is my pleasure

Fanged Nightmare: No problem

Me: You two are now co-leading the rank one tribe, -MM-! Have you worked together in the past?

Ghanghis: We have not worked together in the past.. I’ve been communicating with the previous duke (Dave) for some time.. But never really had conversations with Fanged, until a few days before Dave left

Fanged Nightmare: Not really, we hardly knew one another but a friendship bond has already taken place

Me: You’ve adjusted well to the power-sharing system, then? Does one of you specialize in a certain area of administration, and vice-versa?

Ghanghis: To keep things short: Fanged deals with most internal issues, while I’m supposed to work on the external issues. If I should name my specialty.. It would probably come to negotiations and diplomacy.

Ghanghis: If I should name fanged his specialty… well… wouldn’t know how to name it. Let’s wait for his answer.

Fanged Nightmare: (:D). I organize the tribe internally, solve arguments, make sure everyone is doing their job etc

Me: ((Chuckle)

Fanged Nightmare: I call it micromanagement. Others call it sexual harassment

Fanged Nightmare: Haters gonna hate

Me: Where did you acquire the skills for running a tribe of this caliber? Have you had previous experience?

Fanged Nightmare: I have ran tribes but not of this size or rank. But most of what I do now I was already doing under Dave’s rule

Ghanghis: I myself have had leadership positions in multiple tribes in other worlds.

MCD (world 11) would be where I learned most, when over 75% of the world did war the tribe I was in.. The war took some years, and in the end, I had to negotiate something with one of our greatest enemies (Attero). That’s when I started to develop my skills in “Diplomacy”.

Ghanghis: Been in some other tribes, and for some reason I always work myself up to the council for some reason. I probably just can’t stand it to be left out of what’s happening in the backgrounds.

Ghanghis: Why are my answers twice as long as Fanged’s answers :O?

Me: (:P) No need to be alarmed

Me: Do you co-play, at all, on this world? That’s a bit difficult to do from the duke position ((think))

Fanged Nightmare: I don’t, I just dump my account on Syntexgrid when I need something done

Fanged Nightmare: Like urgent barb nobling tee-hee

Fanged Nightmare: My gf just woke up and she’s gonna be pissed as I turned her alarm off so I could do this interview lol

Fanged Nightmare: TW>RL

Ghanghis: Yes, My account is being coplayed. The player who is coplaying my account is a real warrior, who I’ve been fighting in world 11, and later fought with side by side. He’s highly trustworthy, and we did stick together in a few other worlds. He does not interfere with any of the duking issues. He just plays the account, and only read / answers forums or mails that are not Duke-only

Me: Your high rank is most impressive

Me: Do you have a “new vision” for -MM-, in the wake of Dave’s departure? Have you had to issue some reforms?

Fanged Nightmare: I issued some major reforms last night which caused massive disruption. I ended the -SWAT- war by taking some drastic action eg. dismissing players Dave had recruited in the past. But I feel it was the right choice for the tribe. Many others feel I made the right choice, many others do not. But the main reforms come in the next few weeks. I am making -MM- into the killing machine it used to be again.

Fanged Nightmare: Can’t give too many details tho

Me: Has moral in -MM- recovered since the loss of Dave? Was that a setback for the tribe?

Fanged Nightmare: It did yes, then was hit hard again by the actions of me in the last 36 hours but has since recovered mostly. Dave was a fantastic leader but we have adapted to cope well without him

Fanged Nightmare: Except Ghanghis who cries himself to sleep every night

Ghanghis: According to a small investigation where a circular mail was send out to the tribe, it seemed like most members are used to the new leadership already, and before yesterday, they really loved fanged and me.. As fanged said earlier, a few people dislike him now for what happened last night. But yeah, they did need some time. Morale had been low for a few days. But if the morale is still low, this will probably have nothing to do with Dave… We did get over him (although, we still miss him)

Me: -MM- has the largest spread of any tribe, and only has >50% control of one continent – are you concerned the tribe may have become overextended?

Fanged Nightmare: Yes, greatly. It already has proven to be. Which is why I have called a stop to several wars and we are now working very fast to secure everything down. Once everything is very securely ours we will decide where to go next, but for now we are just making sure we can dominate what we have.

Ghanghis: Concerned, No.

Ghanghis: But yes, that situation definitely needs to improve, and Yes, I don’t like us being so spread out and thin.. However, there’s nothing as easy as filling up a K you already own.

Fanged Nightmare: I also want to point out that just because we say we are concerned over our spread does not say we are easy game. Anyone who attempts to usurp a continent from us after reading this thinking we are weak and feeble will find themselves in a lot of trouble

Fanged Nightmare: And by trouble I mean I will tell Kkaukis-Joes-Murph they called him fat

Fanged Nightmare: And then tell him they also have a hidden stash of pies

Fanged Nightmare: ????? Profit!

Me: Lovely metaphor

Ghanghis: Ahh.. and that wouldn’t be all… erm… we will also.. erm… Dunno yet.. but we will make a evil plan

Fanged Nightmare: Really evil

Fanged Nightmare: Really With lasers and stuff

Fanged Nightmare: Fanged Nightmare and a swivel chair and a white cat

Me: :^)

Me: Moving on

Me: What tribe do you have the highest opinion of/respect for, in W52?

Fanged Nightmare: I respect quite a few. P.S have always been good friends. T.E – although small have proven to pack a punch in whatever they do. WET have never been afraid to fight those much bigger than them – which I really respect. They have balls Erm…. -SWAT- and Phat too; Both good PnPers and tacticians

Fanged Nightmare: Some tribes I dont respect at all, but that is for another day

Ghanghis: Hmm… This would be a hard one… It’s not really that I respect a specific tribe. Altough I respect several players, for example I respect Chelsea Staub and Coplayed By A Horse, which would make me like Phat of course

Ghanghis: And I respect -MM- I guess.

Fanged Nightmare: I don’t

Fanged Nightmare: Damn huggers

Ghanghis: And WET, for the same reasons as fanged mentioned

Me: (:D)

Me: What’s the hardest thing about leading a tribe?

Fanged Nightmare: Probably trying to keep everyone happy. You can’t help everyone so you have to just try and do what keeps the majority happy, and try and disappoint or annoy as few people as possible. And the fact I can’t quit the game (not that I want to) or disappear off places since the tribe relies on me hehe

Ghanghis: The hardest part would be fulfilling everyone wishes, and responding thousand mails a day, answering the same questions, without getting annoyed

Me: Lol I don’t envy you

Me: Do you have any words of inspiration for the players of W52?

Fanged Nightmare: If at first you don’t succeed, destroy all evidence you ever tried and act like you didn’t care anyway. Heh

Fanged Nightmare: But a serious one? Hate to be cheesy but its a Sun Tzu one:

“The general who advances without coveting fame and retreats without fearing disgrace, whose only thought is to protect his country and do good service for his sovereign, is the jewel of the kingdom.

Applies very well to TW.

Me: I’m not familiar with Sun Tzu unfortunately

Fanged Nightmare: I know him personally

Ghanghis: Haha I knew fanged was gonna throw that quote

Me: Isn’t he deceased?

Ghanghis:

“The merit of an action lies in finishing it to the end.”

Well, if it’s quote time.. I’ll stick to that one

Fanged Nightmare: It’s Toyotomi Hideyoshi – he was a Japanese warlord in the 16th century who was born a penniless peasant but became the ruler of all Japan. He said his secret was basically devoting yourself entirely to you clan and leader and people will appreciate the effort and come to respect and rely on you

Me: Lol alrighty

Fanged Nightmare: Which is basically what I did in TW. I have no ingame talent. I am a random little barb nobler but I was always there when anyone needed me and always did what I could for the tribe and my tribemates so Dave took note and I worked my way up to Duke

Fanged Nightmare: So it doesn’t matter who you are – hard work will get you far

Me: Touché, that’s great advice

Me: Thanks for your time, gentlemen

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I apologize for missing last week; some things didn’t work out and I thought it better to wait until I had all the information instead of trying to release a sub-par blog.

I also know I’ve been pushing back the SOHK / P.S. issue for awhile now; I promise to address that next weekend. The weekend after, I mentioned I will be out of town, but I’m thinking of some things to do in lieu of a full blog for that week.

Cheers