Its 1 month in here and the server is in an interesting state, I feel like giving me take on it with an analysis. The ones who've read mine before already know, its reasonably impartial but not unopinionated, if i think you're lame I'll say it, but I'll tell you why. :)
N.E
1st: O.G.C 4.5/5
Starting out with OGC, an alliance from the last round of S2. Over there they owned the NE quad but struggled in endgame , in particular with acquiring Building Plans. They come here with the experience of that server, and players they know they can rely on. Taking into account that this server appears already to be one with much less depth of quality than S2 they start as one of the early favorites to get the win here. You do have to question the recruitment policy of an alliance that rejects someone raiding almost equal amounts to their entire 53 player 2nd wing, but can find room for someone with 1 village and 160 pop. By and large though the average quality is good, they've recruited fairly well, adding some talent to their established core. We can see from their occupation of the top 2 spots for Population that they're settling and simming up well, don't underestimate the importance of population in these stages, better villages produce better armies. Sim to arte hammer is a well established and effect play style nowadays. This could be an indication that they have a fair amount of players who haven't settled a 15C particularly in the middle range, but looking at some of their top accounts there is an awful lot of potential. Overall OGC seem to have established an early monopoly on the quality in the NE and its hard to see anyone else coming anywhere close to competing with them in their quad. The start here promises more than their S2 start, and I really expect OGC to be the team to beat here.
2nd: TRA 2/5
TRA look pretty average. Losing Adairnet has really hurt their raid score and they find themselves in at 10th. Not bad but its a very unimpressive raid score for an alliance with so many players a month in. They've clearly been recruiting from the 'second tier' of NE players. I would be very surprised if they were still around in any kind of notable form come arte release. The future is pretty grim for TRA.
3rd: STR N 0.5/5
If you picked at least one quad per alliance you might have a fighting chance of survival somewhere. The lesser of the two STR alliances should be delighted with their status as 'footnote' They're just not very good. P.S 'The North' isn't a quadrant. Its a half. Or a hemisphere. Either way you're morons.
Quick Summary: OGC will control the NE. I see no other outcome in there. Given that situation I think they will be able to set themselves up very nicely for arte release and get a nice selection to hold. OGC are my pick as early favourites, and no pressure, but the last alliance I said that about won the server (S2) in UK record time...
NW
1st: Olympia 3.5/5
When they first posted their announcement that they were coming here, a lot of people thought 'All mouth, no trousers' They've started well though. A group of players who all know each other and are closed to recruitment has a lot of benefits, particularly in terms of trust, loyalty and organisation. The obvious downside though is that any player who leaves will be noticed and felt. 35 players is not a substantial number to go on from here with, and whilst I don't expect many of their players to leave, life does sometimes get in the way. They undoubtedly have quality players and will be a difficult obstacle for anyone to overcome to take charge of the NW but the recruitment policy I think will eventually hurt them. For me, they already lack some depth , but unlike anyone else , they've taken a stance that prevents them from adding any. IF the likes of 2G1C were to team up with Invictus, then I wouldn't give these guys a chance in all honesty. It remains to be seen what these guys really bring to the table, but if the NW remains in its current state then Olympia could well keep control of the quad and become real contenders, I'll stick my neck out though and make a prediction that eventually the rest of the quad will come together and be too much for the Greeks to handle.
2nd: Invictus 1.5/5
Too much dead weight. Invictus offer an interesting contrast to the Greeks, its a comparison of two ends of the spectrum. Olympia recruit no-one, and Invictus (seemingly) recruit everyone. I do wonder if the reason Invictus don't currently feature in the raiders chart is because they have too many players leaking resources. Even so, 1.5/5 may seem a tad harsh, but I can't really justify giving the an equal score to TRA right now, except for the fact that Invictus have much more promising future prospects. I think Invictus probably do have the ability to defend reasonably well, if they could add a few offensive star players (and there is some opportunity to do this, with Olympia not recruiting and there definitely being some around) then they would be a real force to contend with. They would probably be a very attractive prospect for the likes of 2G1C if they could just trim some of the fat, remove some dead weight and get back up in the charts. It all depends imo on how Invictus proceed and grow from here.
3rd 2G1C
1.5/5
The reason they're just below Invictus is simple, I asked who would win in a fight. As much as I like these guys, they don't have the depth to defeat Invictus or Olympia. At least not yet. Regardless, 4th in raiders with 9 players is very impressive. In terms of average raid score, they're well above anyone else on the server, this combined with growth scores suggests a very high average quality. In terms of depth though, they're about last place of anyone relevant! (Except STR N, STR N have about 3 Phalanx and a Mace between them, actually STR N are irrelevant anyway, forget these brackets. Now. Forget them. Why haven't you read past these brackets yet?) If they can add the best of invictus to their ranks, then they may well become real contenders, the alternative imo is that they eventually merge into invictus. Doing that would add the star quality Invictus need, and give them the defense that they will eventually need supporting them if they wish to take on Olympia properly. In my honest opinion, I think the latter situation is the most likely right now, and probably the best option all round. Anyway, these are the alliance to keep an eye on, what happens with 2G1C will most likely decide the outcome in the entire NW quad and they could set Invictus up to be WW contenders. Make no mistake, this is a little alliance that have the power to potentially make a major impact on the server.
Quick Summary, Olympia are good, but 2G1C + Invictus would be better. This is certainly an interesting quad and the situation will be well worth keeping an eye on.
SW:
1st: STR S 3.5/5
Surprisingly, they're not actually bad. Almost all of their players are in SW, perhaps their northern sister alliance should try and learn from these lot. Or, perhaps, STR S should end their Confed with N, and change their name. Its not like STR N will last anyway. Questionable diplomatic links aside, STR S have actual quality in their ranks, a solid (though not Excellent) raiding score, and fair depth could be the base from which they go on to take control in the SW. They face stern competition though from the smaller yet dangerous WL. If they lose a few of their better players to WL they'll find themselves in a difficult situation. At the end of the day, your SE/NE confeds won't help you win a quad war, but the embarrassment of being associated with STR N might well send a few more of their players into the WL ranks! On the other hand, if a few of WLs best are attracted by the defense on offer within STR S then they should really go on to establish real dominance in the SW.
2nd: WL 3/5
Its like 2G1C, except larger. Or like Olympia, except smaller. Either description works for me. They have some good quality in their ranks for sure. Like the similar NW alliances though, I do worry a little about their depth, WL have been around and recruiting for a while now, perhaps certain STR S players need more aggressive convincing! They are scoring well in raiders and will certainly have some solid accounts, and they could probably compete very well with STR S already, even without many additions. There isn't a great deal to be said about WL as yet, but they could be this servers dark horses, they're no joke for sure. They could use some extra numbers though, to support an undoubtedly talented base of players.
Quick Summary: Its close between STR S and WL right now, I just give the edge to STR S but with a few additions WL could really make an impression.
SE: (Starting to lose the will to write, These might be a little short)
1st: -C- 4/5
Every Word On Your Profile Does Not Need To Begin With A Capital Letter. Sort It Out. The early top raiders, -C- have the look of an impressive alliance, they've certainly made the best start of any. The confed with HL does them no harm at all, though I would recommend (for the sake of organisation) that they seek to merge the two once a few people drop off and they have 60 or fewer accounts. Alternatively, both alliances could expand and form a powerhouse to rival the likes of OGC. When I look at the SE I see a lot of opportunity for a good alliance to really get established and put themselves in a solid position for arte release. For some reason though, im not entirely convinced by -C- as yet. Something about them just gives me the impression that they might be the big collapse here. I won't go into it too much, mostly because I could be super wrong, but watch this space. They're certainly worth keeping an eye on at least. In fairness I don't really rate their closest rivals SL18 either, so maybe they have a lot or reasons for optimism and I'm just dead wrong.
2nd: SL18 2.5/5
Apparantly they won some servers in Aus? They look like the alliance embodiment of the word 'okay' to me.
So thats it, please do comment, even if you completely disagree and think i'm a complete moron. Its good to have these discussions :)
N.E
1st: O.G.C 4.5/5
Starting out with OGC, an alliance from the last round of S2. Over there they owned the NE quad but struggled in endgame , in particular with acquiring Building Plans. They come here with the experience of that server, and players they know they can rely on. Taking into account that this server appears already to be one with much less depth of quality than S2 they start as one of the early favorites to get the win here. You do have to question the recruitment policy of an alliance that rejects someone raiding almost equal amounts to their entire 53 player 2nd wing, but can find room for someone with 1 village and 160 pop. By and large though the average quality is good, they've recruited fairly well, adding some talent to their established core. We can see from their occupation of the top 2 spots for Population that they're settling and simming up well, don't underestimate the importance of population in these stages, better villages produce better armies. Sim to arte hammer is a well established and effect play style nowadays. This could be an indication that they have a fair amount of players who haven't settled a 15C particularly in the middle range, but looking at some of their top accounts there is an awful lot of potential. Overall OGC seem to have established an early monopoly on the quality in the NE and its hard to see anyone else coming anywhere close to competing with them in their quad. The start here promises more than their S2 start, and I really expect OGC to be the team to beat here.
2nd: TRA 2/5
TRA look pretty average. Losing Adairnet has really hurt their raid score and they find themselves in at 10th. Not bad but its a very unimpressive raid score for an alliance with so many players a month in. They've clearly been recruiting from the 'second tier' of NE players. I would be very surprised if they were still around in any kind of notable form come arte release. The future is pretty grim for TRA.
3rd: STR N 0.5/5
If you picked at least one quad per alliance you might have a fighting chance of survival somewhere. The lesser of the two STR alliances should be delighted with their status as 'footnote' They're just not very good. P.S 'The North' isn't a quadrant. Its a half. Or a hemisphere. Either way you're morons.
Quick Summary: OGC will control the NE. I see no other outcome in there. Given that situation I think they will be able to set themselves up very nicely for arte release and get a nice selection to hold. OGC are my pick as early favourites, and no pressure, but the last alliance I said that about won the server (S2) in UK record time...
NW
1st: Olympia 3.5/5
When they first posted their announcement that they were coming here, a lot of people thought 'All mouth, no trousers' They've started well though. A group of players who all know each other and are closed to recruitment has a lot of benefits, particularly in terms of trust, loyalty and organisation. The obvious downside though is that any player who leaves will be noticed and felt. 35 players is not a substantial number to go on from here with, and whilst I don't expect many of their players to leave, life does sometimes get in the way. They undoubtedly have quality players and will be a difficult obstacle for anyone to overcome to take charge of the NW but the recruitment policy I think will eventually hurt them. For me, they already lack some depth , but unlike anyone else , they've taken a stance that prevents them from adding any. IF the likes of 2G1C were to team up with Invictus, then I wouldn't give these guys a chance in all honesty. It remains to be seen what these guys really bring to the table, but if the NW remains in its current state then Olympia could well keep control of the quad and become real contenders, I'll stick my neck out though and make a prediction that eventually the rest of the quad will come together and be too much for the Greeks to handle.
2nd: Invictus 1.5/5
Too much dead weight. Invictus offer an interesting contrast to the Greeks, its a comparison of two ends of the spectrum. Olympia recruit no-one, and Invictus (seemingly) recruit everyone. I do wonder if the reason Invictus don't currently feature in the raiders chart is because they have too many players leaking resources. Even so, 1.5/5 may seem a tad harsh, but I can't really justify giving the an equal score to TRA right now, except for the fact that Invictus have much more promising future prospects. I think Invictus probably do have the ability to defend reasonably well, if they could add a few offensive star players (and there is some opportunity to do this, with Olympia not recruiting and there definitely being some around) then they would be a real force to contend with. They would probably be a very attractive prospect for the likes of 2G1C if they could just trim some of the fat, remove some dead weight and get back up in the charts. It all depends imo on how Invictus proceed and grow from here.
3rd 2G1C
1.5/5
The reason they're just below Invictus is simple, I asked who would win in a fight. As much as I like these guys, they don't have the depth to defeat Invictus or Olympia. At least not yet. Regardless, 4th in raiders with 9 players is very impressive. In terms of average raid score, they're well above anyone else on the server, this combined with growth scores suggests a very high average quality. In terms of depth though, they're about last place of anyone relevant! (Except STR N, STR N have about 3 Phalanx and a Mace between them, actually STR N are irrelevant anyway, forget these brackets. Now. Forget them. Why haven't you read past these brackets yet?) If they can add the best of invictus to their ranks, then they may well become real contenders, the alternative imo is that they eventually merge into invictus. Doing that would add the star quality Invictus need, and give them the defense that they will eventually need supporting them if they wish to take on Olympia properly. In my honest opinion, I think the latter situation is the most likely right now, and probably the best option all round. Anyway, these are the alliance to keep an eye on, what happens with 2G1C will most likely decide the outcome in the entire NW quad and they could set Invictus up to be WW contenders. Make no mistake, this is a little alliance that have the power to potentially make a major impact on the server.
Quick Summary, Olympia are good, but 2G1C + Invictus would be better. This is certainly an interesting quad and the situation will be well worth keeping an eye on.
SW:
1st: STR S 3.5/5
Surprisingly, they're not actually bad. Almost all of their players are in SW, perhaps their northern sister alliance should try and learn from these lot. Or, perhaps, STR S should end their Confed with N, and change their name. Its not like STR N will last anyway. Questionable diplomatic links aside, STR S have actual quality in their ranks, a solid (though not Excellent) raiding score, and fair depth could be the base from which they go on to take control in the SW. They face stern competition though from the smaller yet dangerous WL. If they lose a few of their better players to WL they'll find themselves in a difficult situation. At the end of the day, your SE/NE confeds won't help you win a quad war, but the embarrassment of being associated with STR N might well send a few more of their players into the WL ranks! On the other hand, if a few of WLs best are attracted by the defense on offer within STR S then they should really go on to establish real dominance in the SW.
2nd: WL 3/5
Its like 2G1C, except larger. Or like Olympia, except smaller. Either description works for me. They have some good quality in their ranks for sure. Like the similar NW alliances though, I do worry a little about their depth, WL have been around and recruiting for a while now, perhaps certain STR S players need more aggressive convincing! They are scoring well in raiders and will certainly have some solid accounts, and they could probably compete very well with STR S already, even without many additions. There isn't a great deal to be said about WL as yet, but they could be this servers dark horses, they're no joke for sure. They could use some extra numbers though, to support an undoubtedly talented base of players.
Quick Summary: Its close between STR S and WL right now, I just give the edge to STR S but with a few additions WL could really make an impression.
SE: (Starting to lose the will to write, These might be a little short)
1st: -C- 4/5
Every Word On Your Profile Does Not Need To Begin With A Capital Letter. Sort It Out. The early top raiders, -C- have the look of an impressive alliance, they've certainly made the best start of any. The confed with HL does them no harm at all, though I would recommend (for the sake of organisation) that they seek to merge the two once a few people drop off and they have 60 or fewer accounts. Alternatively, both alliances could expand and form a powerhouse to rival the likes of OGC. When I look at the SE I see a lot of opportunity for a good alliance to really get established and put themselves in a solid position for arte release. For some reason though, im not entirely convinced by -C- as yet. Something about them just gives me the impression that they might be the big collapse here. I won't go into it too much, mostly because I could be super wrong, but watch this space. They're certainly worth keeping an eye on at least. In fairness I don't really rate their closest rivals SL18 either, so maybe they have a lot or reasons for optimism and I'm just dead wrong.
2nd: SL18 2.5/5
Apparantly they won some servers in Aus? They look like the alliance embodiment of the word 'okay' to me.
So thats it, please do comment, even if you completely disagree and think i'm a complete moron. Its good to have these discussions :)
