Seems fair

[The Onox Legion]

Personally I'm just a bit miffed that I couldn't even do that one goal our faction had.
Annihilating Friendship.
I expected that our faction would likely be destroyed, but I was miffed they took both McNukalds and Friendship out without any intentions other than pointshunting.
Like, I fully knew we would get nuked in the later phases, but I can't help to feel a tad disappointed about it.

And regarding the history thing: Maybe don't make a game where nuking is the fun thing and intended way to win if you want to achieve that.
It needs more thought put into game design, but a game where the people need to collectively avert a nuclear crisis would be far more suited if "learning from history" is so important.

[Borogravia Moldavi]

Personally I'm just a bit miffed that I couldn't even do that one goal our faction had.
Annihilating Friendship.
I expected that our faction would likely be destroyed, but I was miffed they took both McNukalds and Friendship out without any intentions other than pointshunting.
Like, I fully knew we would get nuked in the later phases, but I can't help to feel a tad disappointed about it.

And regarding the history thing: Maybe don't make a game where nuking is the fun thing and intended way to win if you want to achieve that.
It needs more thought put into game design, but a game where the people need to collectively avert a nuclear crisis would be far more suited if "learning from history" is so important.

It isn't the point of the game though. I don't know anyone that has ever played NS that did so in order to "learn from history" (this potentially excludes the teaching/education regions, which I have never been a party to).

[The Onox Legion]

-snip-

It isn't the point of the game though. I don't know anyone that has ever played NS that did so in order to "learn from history" (this potentially excludes the teaching/education regions, which I have never been a party to).

I was referring to what the mod said, personally I don't see NS as a way to learn about politics either.

[Roavin]

Hi, I'm one of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse, and half of the brain behind the horsemen tech.

On botting: There is no botting involved here, as such a thing would be a violation of NS rules and we take great care to make sure that we stay clear of any such violations. Our tech isn't container-based as PA's is, but in many ways it performs similar functions (though significantly more optimized), and its source code contains several places where it goes out of its way to perform what it's doing in a OSRS-compliant way. It really is just a bunch of people doing thousands upon thousands of clicks and button presses.

The only reason members of CotA are saying things like "saltmine" or "just dont play, join a bigger faction" is because they're the ones at the top, in charge of the bigger factions. I expect nothing to change next year though, and it'll probably somehow end up even more boring.

Actually, the Horsemen lost last year. We went out in a blaze of glory, but it was a loss nonetheless.

For this year, we changed it up a bit, adapted our strategies, and optimized our tech more (we had some tech troubles last year that kept us from full efficiency), which included allying with CRAB. What we didn't expect, however, was for there to be so many fewer powerful factions than last year. I doubt that next time will be this way again and it will be much more competitive once more. At the end of the day, myself and pretty much all of the Horsemen prefer a competitive fight (even one that we lose, like last year) over an easy one.

On the smaller factions: Don't underestimate them; in previous years, there were always several factions on the smaller side that nonetheless performed well through good coordination and strategy. Canopy and PS2 Puppet Storage come to mind. That this wasn't the case this year is, I think, more a function of how the "big faction" meta unfortunately turned out, and not something I expect to see in future N-Days again anytime soon.

On making it easier for smaller factions: I think a good change could be making shielding stronger. At the moment, a mil nation will be able to produce significantly more nukes than a strat nation can, and balancing that aspect could be a great boon for smaller factions (and a great thorn in the side for the Horsemen).

[Sincluda]

It isn't the point of the game though. I don't know anyone that has ever played NS that did so in order to "learn from history" (this potentially excludes the teaching/education regions, which I have never been a party to).

I was referring to what the mod said, personally I don't see NS as a way to learn about politics either.

(Wasn't a mod but...)
You're saying that you don't see a POLITICAL simulator as a way to learn about POLITICS?

[Kors]

You're saying that a global radiation catastrophe of nukes, commies and reprogrammed card farming bots is fair?

Very fair.

Sarcastic

[Comfed]

Frankly, I doubt that Potato and Crabs will merge into one big gigafaction next year. It wouldn't be great strategically. A massive faction wouldn't be able to break many records because those all come from huge, successful backstabs between two large factions (for example, CotA attacking Potato). Also, it would be a very big effort to coordinate an agreement between so many big regions, and I doubt most of them would want to claim victory by default... it wouldn't be a very sweet victory.

[Cummunizim]

booots

[Archinstinct]

Just play normally instead of using scripts to bulge your ego, unless you just have nothing better to do than ruin an event for hundreds of people?

You're pretty accurate with that summation.

[Nrevyw]

Just play normally instead of using scripts to bulge your ego, unless you just have nothing better to do than ruin an event for hundreds of people?

You're pretty accurate with that summation.

This N-day I managed around 250 nations manually and helped coordinate CotA for the first 12 hours or so. There's no big conspiracy here for you to blame.

[Vikanias]

I was referring to what the mod said, personally I don't see NS as a way to learn about politics either.

(Wasn't a mod but...)
You're saying that you don't see a POLITICAL simulator as a way to learn about POLITICS?

I mean man most issues are either jokes or do nothing for me to learn the political system. The only real way you learn politics is in the mound of dog shit we call general or II. And even than that’s a bit going over the line.

[North Saitama]

I would dare say that it is actually a more effective political statement when you have factions engaged in their own standoffs, wars, diplomacy, etc. Especially when you discover that some smaller factions that you were bullying are allies with larger ones, and now you have to go apologise before they nuke your faction into oblivion.

You couldn't even engage with the Crabcakes diplomatically. They told me that agreements are between equals.

[Sincluda]

I would dare say that it is actually a more effective political statement when you have factions engaged in their own standoffs, wars, diplomacy, etc. Especially when you discover that some smaller factions that you were bullying are allies with larger ones, and now you have to go apologise before they nuke your faction into oblivion.

You couldn't even engage with the Crabcakes diplomatically. They told me that agreements are between equals.

That's... still how diplomacy works. Doh.

[North Saitama]

I would dare say that it is actually a more effective political statement when you have factions engaged in their own standoffs, wars, diplomacy, etc. Especially when you discover that some smaller factions that you were bullying are allies with larger ones, and now you have to go apologise before they nuke your faction into oblivion.

You couldn't even engage with the Crabcakes diplomatically. They told me that agreements are between equals.

That's... still how diplomacy works. Doh.

Yes, but past megafactions would at least entertain offers, and there were advantages to them. The crabcakes just treated everyone like targets.

If anything, I would argue that the Crabs' strategy was against the spirit of the game. They played like doomsday terrorists trying to bring about the apocalypse.

[Alcala-Cordel]

That's... still how diplomacy works. Doh.

Yes, but past megafactions would at least entertain offers, and there were advantages to them. The crabcakes just treated everyone like targets.

If anything, I would argue that the Crabs' strategy was against the spirit of the game. They played like doomsday terrorists trying to bring about the apocalypse.

The point of N-Day is to irradiate other nations and protect your faction. CoTA did that very well, and while getting allies can be a good strategy nobody really owes anyone else an alliance. Given the idea behind the game it really isn't fair to expect peace just because you asked for it.

[North Saitama]

Yes, but past megafactions would at least entertain offers, and there were advantages to them. The crabcakes just treated everyone like targets.

If anything, I would argue that the Crabs' strategy was against the spirit of the game. They played like doomsday terrorists trying to bring about the apocalypse.

The point of N-Day is to irradiate other nations and protect your faction. CoTA did that very well, and while getting allies can be a good strategy nobody really owes anyone else an alliance. Given the idea behind the game it really isn't fair to expect peace just because you asked for it.

It is also a game that is supposed to be fun. The only people that even had fun this year were Crabs and Potatoes, at the expense of everyone else. Why even bother, if they are just going to indiscriminately kill everyone off?

You don’t even really get anything for winning.

[Lord Dominator]

The point of N-Day is to irradiate other nations and protect your faction. CoTA did that very well, and while getting allies can be a good strategy nobody really owes anyone else an alliance. Given the idea behind the game it really isn't fair to expect peace just because you asked for it.

It is also a game that is supposed to be fun. The only people that even had fun this year were Crabs and Potatoes, at the expense of everyone else. Why even bother, if they are just going to indiscriminately kill everyone off?

You don’t even really get anything for winning.

Bragging rights, the feeling of seeing your enemy crushed

[North Saitama]

It is also a game that is supposed to be fun. The only people that even had fun this year were Crabs and Potatoes, at the expense of everyone else. Why even bother, if they are just going to indiscriminately kill everyone off?

You don’t even really get anything for winning.

Bragging rights, the feeling of seeing your enemy crushed

Bragging to who? They basically just ran up the score, which is just seen as poor sportsmanship.

[Chingis]

It is also a game that is supposed to be fun. The only people that even had fun this year were Crabs and Potatoes, at the expense of everyone else. Why even bother, if they are just going to indiscriminately kill everyone off?

You don’t even really get anything for winning.

I don't see where it says that N Day is supposed to be fun for everyone? It's a collection of in-game mechanics like moving regions or issue answering. What they are used for is entirely up to the players.

[Lord Dominator]

Bragging rights, the feeling of seeing your enemy crushed

Bragging to who? They basically just ran up the score, which is just seen as poor sportsmanship.

To us and each other over in the nebulously defined Gameplay?

[Auspicious Clouds]

Did I not see anyone else wishing to form a NAP... and then get booted by the Potatoes?

The tools in how they are to be played, it is entirely up to the players... and for those accusing us of using bots... no... pretty much no one used scripts yet few managed to rack up some good hits.