Strongest Empire Ever?

[Pele]

I had a look and couldn't find a topic similar to this so here goes, should be a good talking point. If there is something like this that I have missed gimme a slap and I will go back to my corner.

Me and some friends were discussing past empires and came to the conclusion that the original GA (Omega, UTA and EPA) was the strongest empire/FMA that has existed in the game. Was wondering what the rest of the community thought.

This isn't based purely on members of the empire/FMA, its partially based on opposition outwith the empire. At the time of the original GA I felt that those were the 3 strongest alliances in the game by a long way, never mind as an empire.

Also no flamming/spam between FUALL and TJP. Im TJP and the only reason I put the current big 2 in was as a curtousy as they cancel each other out as rivals so neither one can be considered dominant.

Say if I have missed any empires and I will add them later.

[Balhaar]

The original GA. We crushed all who dared stand before us, even disbanded Crystal Force.

GA were un beaten, the only reason it crumbled was due to internal struggle. if we had kept it as it was I have no doubt that today it would still rule as dominant Empire

Long live the memory of the Former Grand Alliance (not that rubbish Fremen made:P)

[SVaRuN]

Would have to say CoP, untill Rome was built



Blue

[comander zao]

either the grand alliance or CoP. i voted cop. but the grand alliance was really good to.

[JediMasterX]

I would say the other GA, but DD ruined it for me with their withdrawal from the CIA war. The old GA isn't strongest because some of those alliance don't exist. I would have to say a tie between FUALL (OE and DDE) and TLE before the Janus Pact. Hopefully we can settle this tie some time soon though

[Lore]

I think the question is faulty. It is all based on the time frame of the game. Yes the originals were strong during their time, but if you took them then and brought them to now they would be powerless n00bs as far as power goes. I started playing in the mid/waining yrs of the GA so I can only comment from there on. I think that during certain time periods there are certainly alliances that can be labeled as the "Strongest Empire". There are also those who stood the test of time as well. But you cant really label an empire as the strongest ever. All empires see their ups and downs. All see periods of highs and lows. Another problem that arises is many players have changed alliances. Saying that one alliance is better then another, when half of the players in the second alliance came from the first is foolish.

IDK, many have come and gone, the tides are changing daily, and no true "Strongest Empire Ever" can ever be named until the game ends and the code grows cold. IMO.

[Envy]

I would say the other GA, but DD ruined it for me with their withdrawal from the CIA war. The old GA isn't strongest because some of those alliance don't exist. I would have to say a tie between FUALL (OE and DDE) and TLE before the Janus Pact. Hopefully we can settle this tie some time soon though

-Yes and we will deal it with a- (Jedi)

-Spear & shield !-(Jedi)

-OoOoO let me fight Envy !-(Jedi)

*Jedi raise ur shield over ur neck*(Envy)

- UghHuUu I cant Envy- (Jedi)

*Sorry u cant fight. Not everone is made for a war*(Envy)

[KnowLedge]

ouch

btw who is GA and who is EPA>.?? i need to know some sgw history..

[Mordack]

Lore made the points I might have made if he hadn't made them first.

And can the CIA really be considered an 'Empire' in the same sense that those others were? It was just one large group of players attacking another large group of players; and had none of the organization, discipline or structure that I'd expect a proper coalition to have. They'd have been rank one if they'd all joined one alliance, certainly, but that's hardly an apt indicator of 'strength' as we understand it.

[pianomutt20000]

I'd say the original ga....but that's only because you don't have the empire of JUAN on there.


Juan, in his time, ruled the game. If you were in his enemies alliance, puck alliance.....it was bad times.


Bill

[Envy]

GA actually no , as GA was bleeding internal. to much strenght barely fu as their werent foes strong enuff.

So I say no as GA wasn't really an Empire but a 1 big nap stuffy

man was that a mess

[Defense-Forcefield]

hard... to admit
i would say that the most "dominator" was CoP. they leaded the game for long time, ruining people in ascended and in main, and selling tons of naq-uu for $.

but now... as said before... there is no more domination of the galaxy. Just two very high empire who flame forum and wait for the ragnarok

but i think that the NAP between FUALL and TJP is the highest ever seen

[Severian]

The Old GA
I wasn't politically active during the original GA although I was still around and so can't really comment on it other then as a player they never phased or bothered me as I wasn't really aware of what was going on outside of my own context.

The New GA - Formation of CoP
The New GA and the forces within it always had the vast network of Crystal Force to contend with and so as a player, it seemed to balance things out. However when the new GA became the hammer that shattered Crystal Force, for a time after CF's disbanding, it seemed like nothing could stop them as they had removed their only real opposition.

Of course after that you have the ejection of EPAc & AB and CoP was formed out of the remaining powers but after the disbanding of CF and before the formation of CoP, there was a moment of feeling utterly powerless with very little prospect of hope or a chance against them.

Formation of CoP - Dismantling of Super Alliances

Now while CoP did dominate for a good year, the important thing to note was that there were a vast number of mid range alliances at the time. There was EPA/TSA/359/Hive/WoB/BWP/TA/TO/AK/FS/TF popped up and a great number of others with diversity and safety in numbers.

The early to mid CoP days was the peak; Anyone not CoP in ascended and with a decent account had their entire armies forcefully untrained and raided away and so it was seen as a CoP server where people who had put as much effort as their CoP counterparts were reduced to ashes. A mood was set about that if those greats could be reset so easily, there wasn't even a point in trying on that server which only solidified CoP's dominance. Likewise with the admin and several mods, the forums were seen as a CoP enviroment while in main, all of CoP's old enemies had been hit in a series of wars.

As with the GA before it, this was CoP's moment in the spotlight where all seemed useless for a brief period of time. However even though DD had domination of Ascended, in main there was always the option for mass diplomacy and vibrations of rising up against what was seen as the oppressors began to spread. When TF & AB became sister alliances and TL was formed, there was quite an estatic energy and feelings of change brewing. The attitudes of people changed to something more positive and the fear CoP's shadow had cast on the server was effectively broken.

The great war came, DD pulled out, CoP was dismantled, CiA dismantled, EPAc dismantled and limits on super-powers to stop it happening again were mentioned and set in place. But as with all UN-like activities, it was bound to fail.

Slow Decline - The rise of new Empires

This cold war period is probably the most chaotic as it saw a lot of changes and voids being left or filled. A few of the highlights:

• EPac effectively lived on with EPA/TSA/359 but took a back seat.
• CoP lived on with DDE/Omega and its NaP with DD so the position in main/ascended or power bases did not ever really shift. At some stage, DDE/Omega made it public with the formation of FUALL.
• TL grew and expanded with TC and asserted its independance, later assimilating TF and becomming an empire in its own right.
• DD/TO became a third power seen as the buffer between existing powers.
• The TA endured while a lot of the older mid-range alliances slowly died one after another or became inactive/took a back seat.

It was a nation building period and the start of the age of Empires where instead of banding together, you simply expanded yourself to get that large and as such effectively shook off and ignored anything achieved by the previous war. The forums without one super-power reigning meant a lot of loose lips, change of the adminisrative team and essentially a chaotic time of change and turmoil and possibly the worst state the forums had ever been in.

A lot of wars between various alliances were waged, TLE became its own power and the new tall poppy, Omega/DDE wisely let them have the spotlight which effectively saw the decrimilisation of them and the vilification of the new power on the block. Long held perspectives changed forever.

The later stages of this period culmulated in the Zion war which saw a CIA-esque effort rally with the purpose of destroying the rising empires, starting with TLE. However it failed and saw the destruction of many of its member states and before/after this event, you also had TO/DD part ways, DD disband, EPAc alliances fall and have die one by one until the disbanding of EPA itself, BWP and its empire disbanded and generally all successor attempts lost momementum and collapsed.

At this point in time TLE had beaten 13 alliances at once and woke a lot of people up to the fact just how far ahead the empires are.

While at the same time

FUALL had systematically removed its flaws from the CoP days (Weight of Numbers/Public Perception).

Generally this was a genicide of all mid-range alliances. The death of diversity and the emergence of just two empires...

The Age of (Rival) Empires

We now reach the phase we're at now. The age of Empires where early in and to this current point, instead of trying to rebuild or form new allinaces, the community is polarising between the two biggest objects. Each will expand to try get the edge on the other and as such will provoke a rival expansion in order to remain competitve. This has been going on and pushing the two current empires far beyond anything in times past and in doing so, both becomming uncompetitve to the regular alliances who at the moment stand the smallest chance they have ever had.

However there is light at the end of the tunnel. Two other upcomming empires were born, YDE and The Ancient Races while singular alliances are starting to realise that they must work together and/or merge and form their own power bases in order to keep not only themselves competitve, but the entire server.

In another thread, Mordack says it how it is:

I just genuinely feel as though the emergence of new groups, and new powers, is of paramount importance to the survival of this game. Chessboard stalemates will only lead to stagnation.

So the points brought up:

• Period of time after new GA beat CF but before CoP reformation.
• CoP domination of forum/ascended but before it lost the power of fear.
• TLE beating Zion and showing individual alliances' powerlessness.
• FUALL improving itself and transforming from an alliance of the few elites into the single largest horde eager to be let loose.
• TJP Expansionism rivalling FUALLs

I find it difficult to name greatest ever and by what characteristics greatest is judged by.

However there are dire times cast by the shadows of great powers within a given context/timeframe that I have attempted to portray from a player's subjective perspective.

[pianomutt20000]

The Old GA
I wasn't politically active during the original GA although I was still around and so can't really comment on it other then as a player they never phased or bothered me as I wasn't really aware of what was going on outside of my own context.

The New GA - Formation of CoP
The New GA and the forces within it always had the vast network of Crystal Force to contend with and so as a player, it seemed to balance things out. However when the new GA became the hammer that shattered Crystal Force, for a time after CF's disbanding, it seemed like nothing could stop them as they had removed their only real opposition.

Of course after that you have the ejection of EPAc & AB and CoP was formed out of the remaining powers but after the disbanding of CF and before the formation of CoP, there was a moment of feeling utterly powerless with very little prospect of hope or a chance against them.

Formation of CoP - Dismantling of Super Alliances

Now while CoP did dominate for a good year, the important thing to note was that there were a vast number of mid range alliances at the time. There was EPA/TSA/359/Hive/WoB/BWP/TA/TO/AK/FS/TF popped up and a great number of others with diversity and safety in numbers.

The early to mid CoP days was the peak; Anyone not CoP in ascended and with a decent account had their entire armies forcefully untrained and raided away and so it was seen as a CoP server where people who had put as much effort as their CoP counterparts were reduced to ashes. A mood was set about that if those greats could be reset so easily, there wasn't even a point in trying on that server which only solidified CoP's dominance. Likewise with the admin and several mods, the forums were seen as a CoP enviroment while in main, all of CoP's old enemies had been hit in a series of wars.

As with the GA before it, this was CoP's moment in the spotlight where all seemed useless for a brief period of time. However even though DD had domination of Ascended, in main there was always the option for mass diplomacy and vibrations of rising up against what was seen as the oppressors began to spread. When TF & AB became sister alliances and TL was formed, there was quite an estatic energy and feelings of change brewing. The attitudes of people changed to something more positive and the fear CoP's shadow had cast on the server was effectively broken.

The great war came, DD pulled out, CoP was dismantled, CiA dismantled, EPAc dismantled and limits on super-powers to stop it happening again were mentioned and set in place. But as with all UN-like activities, it was bound to fail.

Slow Decline - The rise of new Empires

This cold war period is probably the most chaotic as it saw a lot of changes and voids being left or filled. A few of the highlights:

• EPac effectively lived on with EPA/TSA/359 but took a back seat.
• CoP lived on with DDE/Omega and its NaP with DD so the position in main/ascended or power bases did not ever really shift. At some stage, DDE/Omega made it public with the formation of FUALL.
• TL grew and expanded with TC and asserted its independance, later assimilating TF and becomming an empire in its own right.
• DD/TO became a third power seen as the buffer between existing powers.
• The TA endured while a lot of the older mid-range alliances slowly died one after another or became inactive/took a back seat.

It was a nation building period and the start of the age of Empires where instead of banding together, you simply expanded yourself to get that large and as such effectively shook off and ignored anything achieved by the previous war. The forums without one super-power reigning meant a lot of loose lips, change of the adminisrative team and essentially a chaotic time of change and turmoil and possibly the worst state the forums had ever been in.

A lot of wars between various alliances were waged, TLE became its own power and the new tall poppy, Omega/DDE wisely let them have the spotlight which effectively saw the decrimilisation of them and the vilification of the new power on the block. Long held perspectives changed forever.

The later stages of this period culmulated in the Zion war which saw a CIA-esque effort rally with the purpose of destroying the rising empires, starting with TLE. However it failed and saw the destruction of many of its member states and before/after this event, you also had TO/DD part ways, DD disband, EPAc alliances fall and have die one by one until the disbanding of EPA itself, BWP and its empire disbanded and generally all successor attempts lost momementum and collapsed.

At this point in time TLE had beaten 13 alliances at once and woke a lot of people up to the fact just how far ahead the empires are.

While at the same time

FUALL had systematically removed its flaws from the CoP days (Weight of Numbers/Public Perception).

Generally this was a genicide of all mid-range alliances. The death of diversity and the emergence of just two empires...

The Age of (Rival) Empires

We now reach the phase we're at now. The age of Empires where early in and to this current point, instead of trying to rebuild or form new allinaces, the community is polarising between the two biggest objects. Each will expand to try get the edge on the other and as such will provoke a rival expansion in order to remain competitve. This has been going on and pushing the two current empires far beyond anything in times past and in doing so, both becomming uncompetitve to the regular alliances who at the moment stand the smallest chance they have ever had.

However there is light at the end of the tunnel. Two other upcomming empires were born, YDE and The Ancient Races while singular alliances are starting to realise that they must work together and/or merge and form their own power bases in order to keep not only themselves competitve, but the entire server.

In another thread, Mordack says it how it is:

I just genuinely feel as though the emergence of new groups, and new powers, is of paramount importance to the survival of this game. Chessboard stalemates will only lead to stagnation.

So the points brought up:

• Period of time after new GA beat CF but before CoP reformation.
• CoP domination of forum/ascended but before it lost the power of fear.
• TLE beating Zion and showing individual alliances' powerlessness.
• FUALL improving itself and transforming from an alliance of the few elites into the single largest horde eager to be let loose.
• TJP Expansionism rivalling FUALLs

I find it difficult to name greatest ever and by what characteristics greatest is judged by.

However there are dire times cast by the shadows of great powers within a given context/timeframe that I have attempted to portray from a player's subjective perspective.

Very well put. You miss pre-ga times but still very nice.

Bill

[Defense-Forcefield]

awsome post sev, i think u could write a book about it (or a script and send it for 10-15 next saisons of stargate )