Ignis 2nd portal opening

[Signatus]

May I remind the participants that even if it is a flawed system, it is flawed for every realm, and thus cannot be used as valid argument against the remarkable cooperative effort that so many people had in order to successfully invade our adversaries no less then 6 times in the last nights.

Playing down the success a realm has achieved on completing a major objective of the game (despite what many of you think, it is the true end game in Regnum) is not a lack of respect for that realm (we already have secured bragging rights) but a major lack of consideration for those, on the invaded realms, that made their best to stop Ignis of achieving their goals.

After saying this I would like to point out some facts:

- The Alsius invasions (gems first portal, 3 days ago) was actually started by Syrtis. In all fairness, it was Syrtis that gave some ideas regarding how it would work on the new system.

- Syrtis was actually able to snatch a gem from Alsius, as it is well known. So in this "flawed system" Ignis and Syrtis had each 3 gems, 3 nights ago.

- 2 nights ago Ignis stirred the waters a bit, "just to see if they come out and play!" and secured the 3 Syrtis forts, we were overrun at Algaros, not once but twice. It was Alsius that secured Algaros while we divided our forces between Herb and Eferias. Those who participated may have witnessed some of the most intense hours of war on this server since the WM expansion (my Syrtis quest was over after 30 minutes). There were some epic battles as Syrtis would gain and loose control over Eferias and Herbred for several times. When we were about to call it quits we snatched a window of opportunity and, thanks to the new system, we were able to get a barb that broke the door, and only supported by a handful of players managed to grab the closest gem to the door and run for it (we didn't have plans, nor manpower, to secure the forts AND fight for more then 1 gem).

What is interesting is that, on this "flawed system", Alsius managed to grab the remaining 2 Syrtis gems and for some minutes there were 3 loose gems in the WZ, 2 of them in Alsius control. We actually thought they wouldn't be able to leave the realm with them because we were being owned at Herb, and Syrtis managed to cap the fort a few seconds after Alsius got out with the gems.

We secured our gem and obviously made plans to get our hands on the others. Alsius denounced their inexperience when they called it a run with both gems, on the same place, across the same bridge. Obviously both Ignis and Syrtis went for it, and after intense battling we got them both. And now notice very carefully, Ignis had all the gems, but 2 of them were at pp2!

We managed to take them both up to pp and that's when the military genius of an Ignean player (Meatwad for the win!) was a deciding factor. Instead of trying to secure both gems at the same time, he gambled on dividing our adversaries attention between 2 points, Ignis splited the gems, one went through Alsius territory, and the other over Syrtis territory. Even though we lost the gem travelling by Syrtis (because we would never have enough ppl to defend them both from Alsius and Syrtis) we did manage to defend the gem being carried through Alsius and thus end up the night with more then we were expecting.

On this flawed system the intensity and drama (as in a surprising turn of events) of what was witnessed is the stuff that makes this game, despite all the frustrations it gives, a truly good game.

- Finally, yesterday night, we went for the win again, this time with more numbers, and yes, with Syrtis in deficit comparing the previous night. Is it Ignean fault that after 2 nights of intense battling on the WZ more players decide to join in as opposed of what happened in Syrtis? It is not. We did have the upper hand, but having it only meant we could secure Algaros without Alsius cooperation. But it is untrue there was no difficulty in it: Eferias had no door by the time when the timer ran out, and all the WZ players had to rush to secure the gem during the first invasion, so in all fairness, nobody was at Eferias when the gem reached the door (I know because I rode from Eferias up to the Syrtis Inner realm to kill a hunter that was spamming caltrops and hinder 5 on the gem carrier). It was far from easy as many of you want to believe.

Now the Alsius invasion was much more challenging, and proof of that is we had to do it twice, on this "flawed system", in order to get both gems out. But let's explore this carefully. Alsius proved once more that their main problem is not in numbers, or skill, but in the ingenuity they have in the WZ.

In the first attempt the Alsius players concentrated at Trelleborg and Imperia, striking at it at full force. Syrtis also tried to gain control of Trelle. However, what the Alsius players realized too late was, that in order for us to secure Trelle and Imperia, we were taking almost all player we had in the WZ. They did find out that Aggersborg was empty, but it was already too late.

The second attempt is even more interesting. We took control of Aggersborg again and started the timer. Some of us went to Imperia because although Alsius had breached it during the previous defence (tore the gate down and killed everyone) it was still in Ignis control! We arrived there, and some Alsius players were trying to kill the guards. Naturally we drove them to the save. However what is interesting to acknowledge is that during the second Alsius invasion nobody tried to get Imperia even though it had no door.

Why am I sharing these invasion experiences with you all, because this way you might understand the following statement:

Quit bitching and play the game.

My best regards.