Round 11 1up Announcement
And so it begins ...
originally posted by Synthetic Sid
Since early in the round there have been rumours about various inter-alliance cooperations: some false, some exaggerated, some totally true. I'd restricted my own comments to only that which I was sure of - the cooperation between some fang/mistu members in attacks. Now there is incontrovertible evidence of wider cooperation - at HC level.
NOTE: Before any members of alliances mentioned here post denials, please take the time to speak to your HC. This is NOT rumour-mongering, it is NOT gossip and it has already been confirmed to me by Kjeldoran.
FAnG/MISTU/Rock now cooperate on attacks to the extent of having a shared attack channel, shared target list etc. No prizes for guessing which alliance makes up the content of that target list for tonight. Fang members are even allocated targets from that list based on their fleet composition. For all practical purposes is it 3 alliances vs 1. Of course that's a bit close for comfort - outnumbering us by more than 2.5:1 and ouscoring us by well over 3:2 would hardly make for a fair fight. And so they've been desperately trying to recruit more alliances to their little pact.
Kjeldoran confirmed that the joint attack channel etc had been in place before he returned to Fang HC - so whilst Mistu's members were claiming in other threads that there was no cooperation, in fact cooperation sanctioned at HC level was occurring.
1up's proved its ability to function solo. But faced with cooperation on this scale we have to face the reality that staying solo may well no longer be a viable option. Had the inter-alliance agreements been just of a general nature to focus on 1up - or had the combined participants been of approximately similar score to 1up - then staying solo would have remained a feasible option.
I would welcome clarification from any of the involved alliances on what precisely they had agreed:
Is it to always attack the current #1 alliance?
Is it to always attack 1up?
Is it to cancel all cooperation when certain criteria are met?
Is it to attack together so they can overwhelm other alliances with sheer numbers?
The argument will undoubtedly be raised that it isn't "a block" - as there's no nap. Kjeldoran raised this to me in PM - saying that Fang members could freely attack Mistu/Rock. When i pointed out that Fang members tonight are assigned targets by Irvine - and enquired how many Mistu/Rock are in that target list he didn't answer.
Call it "blocking" if you will. Call it "attack cooperation" if you want to sound politically correct. Whatever you call it, 1up have no realistic alternative but to respond in kind.
We've shown we can do well solo. I suspect those who decided to block may have bitten off more than they can chew.
Last round was won by Mistu/Fang/Phraktos as a block. This round they need Rock as well - and still try to recruit more. I can't see the rest of the universe letting you pull it off twice.
