Hello, my comrades in JEFF.
I am a new NSer, and this was my first N-Day, which I survived and believe I performed well enough.
New as I am, it is evident that we did not perform to our maximum capability. I cannot help but notice this has generated some discourse on our part that may rightfully be called by the colloquial term “coping”.
The facts of the situation are undeniable: HOTA and KHAN clinched #1 and 2, brought us to #3, dealt extremely significant damage, and made us conduct a faction retreat to save our position.
There is no point in arguing with our opposition about strategy. The simple fact is that they won and we did not. That they simply had more manpower and more coordination in a zero-sum game where numbers and unified direction are the primary determinants of victory is undeniable, but that was a surmountable gap… that we did not bother to surmount.
We can say whatever we want about their admittedly lacking sportsmanship, but in the end, their right to criticize the mass retreat is as legitimate as our rationale for conducting it.
Where exactly did we go wrong?
1. To let HOTA build up shields while we were playing around with KHAN was tragic. We needed to keep HOTA on edge and prevent buildup and we failed- also letting ANAL take combined hits from both factions, which immediately neutered any hope of going on a significant offensive. It was necessary to focus HOTA, especially when they had to be defended by KHAN because of the captcha situation at the beginning of the day. We did not. I also argue that the Fascists did not need to immediately go. If they had just been ignored, it would've irritated them far more than being nuked- which just made them feel self-righteous, and gave us the obvious loss of allowing HOTA and KHAN time to mobilize.
2. With all our diplomatic weight, we could've actually taken the "anti-monopolistic" factions and persuaded them to go against HOTA as a single bloc- the undisputed most monopolized faction to exist. The WCC, RAILGUN, GC, TR, etc. could've done a fair bit of damage had we bothered to coordinate with them, and we could've defended each other mutually. We did not. In the end, these smaller factions presented no unified front to anyone, and were either picked off (MDC, NAR) or carved out a respectable niche (WCC, TR).
Our leadership this year smacked of indirection, lack of planning, and failure to utilize opportunities that were available to us. To complain is pointless. To pound out insults against HOTA is meaningless while they smugly grin in rightfully earned superiority behind their screen. We will beat them next time not because we have the moral high ground, but because we got our shit together.
