Editing Round 38 Paulie Walnuts Pliosaurus

With our realm taking an early lead, I started taking notes around the end of the first week. I wrote some of it as things were happening and some of it days after, so excuse my mixing and matching of tenses. It's very TL:DR. I also reversed the order of the copy pasta from the town crier because I hate reading backwards... upwards?. [Editor's notes in square brackets]


== Pre-Round ==

For several rounds now I had been wanting to run the 850a FW strat after seeing playt0i try it twice (Canon Strike & Desert Eagle). Typically I get so busy with dev duties that I neglect my sim, but this time I had been working on the sim off and on as early as the lull between rounds 35 and 36. I thought FW looked pretty good in the test round. The factory changes were really tough on FW though, because of their lumber penalty, so for the first time in ages I was forced to build lumber yards in protection. The plan was to hit whatever I could at +24 and then try to make the biggest possible grab at +36.

Lud decided to play with us again this round (thankfully), but Vinn went looking for greener pastures. So we asked Bobbo to come back home to replace him. They're both great packies. Lud is indispensable for keeping tabs on everyone and running calcs all throughout the day. Bobbo has the mettle to play super fast and can always be online at the right time for a hit, sleep be damned.

Realm assignment comes and we see Cronel and Saccora, which is amazing because we love to utilize blops and having these guys on your team means you don't have to deal with 24/7 swarms the entire round [boy was I wrong]. We also have Harm (a newly returning vet from classic who has gotten up to speed very quickly and asks all the right questions), SlyD, and a couple of ghosts.

I send Cronel a message and discover that one of the little ghosties is actually AgFx in disguise. They were planning to have Damdred as a fourth, but he missed the deadline and enabled the now 3 pack to land with us. So in a sense, Damdred is the MVP of our realm. Just as the round is about to start, we also got a late joiner in mcgeeal, who is also fairly new but quite capable.

Merf had been working on a kobbo sim, which he test drove a version of in the test round. He was coming out huge and planning to hit at an odd hour (+17) to catch somebody off schedule. Originally, Bobbo was going to run it and Merf would go lizard, but Bobbo decided to play halfer again and Merf wasn't going to let the sim go to waste. Lud whipped up a nice halfer 850 copycat (along with most of our realmies' sims), but hitting at +23 to clean up any juicy targets before the rest of the field gets home. Lud is playing a quick converting icekin after seeing how successful Rury was last round and Toothy is on sylvan per usual. Cronel and Saccora went with sylvan and halfling opsers for the natural ratios and AgFx a nox mana battery to round out the support. Harm chose a gnome converter, mcgeeal is fast exploring with gobbo, and SlyD is teching out an undead.

I have been re-watching The Sopranos and suggested it as a theme, but we ended up going with dinosaurs. I wanted to use both and literally just googled Paulie + dinosaur to find that there is a kids show on PBS called dinosaur train with a character named Paulie Pliosaurus.

== Days 1-2: Off to the Races ==

OOP was pretty anticlimactic for us since all three fast attackers were delayed. SlyD made a boatload of hits and then sat on massive schools for quite some time. Merf was up first and we had a big target lined up (Johnny Bravo #8 [Gothia] on 879a by 7 OP), but he saw an opportunity to hit a good looking attacker [Sugarjon] and took that instead. Next up was Bobbo, who also decided to headhunt an attacker [Ivetza], then me. I didn't have to do anything here, the team just told me who to hit. Solid hits for us all, but the biggest actually went to #5 kobbo [B] who was looking very similar to Merf, but just a few hours later in his cycle.

<blockquote>
2024-01-14 17:59:51	Victorious on the battlefield, Weekend at Bernie'Saurus-Rex (#11) conquered 45 land from Lemme tell ya a couple 'o three things (#7).<br/>
2024-01-14 22:58:22	Sleep Better 💤 Run Faster 🏃‍♂️ (#5) invaded Golden Boy ✨️ (#8) and captured 54 land.<br/>
2024-01-14 23:59:41	Victorious on the battlefield, Elvisaurus (#11) conquered 49 land from Daily Dose of Vitamin Nate (#12).<br/>
2024-01-15 00:59:41	Victorious on the battlefield, Paulie 'Walnuts' Pliosaurus (#11) conquered 50 land from Miss Anthropy (#2).<br/>
</blockquote>

Second wave was my time to shine. My entire sim was optimized around this hit. We found the first of many icekin targets. It turns out Lud has a thing for stalking his competition. I got 70 mountains. Still, Bobbo had edged out my hit with the first grab on a kobbo who trained away the draftees that were keeping him safe.

<blockquote>
2024-01-15 06:48:59	Victorious on the battlefield, Weekend at Bernie'Saurus-Rex (#11) conquered 48 land from TechN9inches (#10).<br/>
2024-01-15 11:59:51	Victorious on the battlefield, Elvisaurus (#11) conquered 65 land from Stereoboyz (#4).<br/>
2024-01-15 12:59:57	Learn how to swim Build more docks (#5) invaded Stereoboyz (#4) and captured 60 land.<br/>
2024-01-15 12:59:54	Victorious on the battlefield, Paulie 'Walnuts' Pliosaurus (#11) conquered 63 land from 🌶 John Wick Patron Saints of "BABAYAGA" 🌶 (#1).<br/>
</blockquote>

== Days 3-6: Dealing with Realm #5 ==

We're now starting to see what the field of attackers looks like. #5 liz/halfer/kobbo [allegorical/DavetheGoliath/B], #7 liz/halfer [Downrightdave/Sugarjon], #11 halfer/kobbo/FW, #12 liz/liz [Ivetza/Damdred]. I feel bad for anyone not in those realms who have 10 guys to keep track of. #9 had a liz as well [Virchue], but he got hit super early and died off. Bobbo was able to again sneak in a hit on an attacker [allegorical], while I gathered more mountains.

<blockquote>
2024-01-15 18:59:32	Victorious on the battlefield, Weekend at Bernie'Saurus-Rex (#11) conquered 54 land from Golden Boy ✨️ (#8).<br/>
2024-01-15 23:59:45	Victorious on the battlefield, Elvisaurus (#11) conquered 50 land from Learn how to swim Build more docks (#5).<br/>
2024-01-16 01:59:56	Victorious on the battlefield, Paulie 'Walnuts' Pliosaurus (#11) conquered 48 land from FrostyFruits (#13).<br/>
</blockquote>

Things got a little crazy on Day 3. We had a hit lined up on another big icer for Bobbo on his 5am cycle. But he had accidentally set his alarm for 5:30pm and overslept. He could no longer break him. I had the OP to hit, but likely not the DP. We both trained specs to cover #7. Swifty [jboy] wasn't drafting up and it looked like Bobbo could follow me hitting first depending on casualties. So I sent everything in the hopes that I could kill enough and it worked. Bobbo had to send a few MTs. Well, we made a huge mistake. Our ops on #5 halfer [DavetheGoliath] didn't match and we realized he could break Bobbo the next hour, which likely would get him hit 3x and end his round. We didn't say anything to Bobbo until the hour came and #5 went elsewhere. Dodged a bullet. I got another 80 mountains.

<blockquote>
2024-01-16 13:42:35	Victorious on the battlefield, Paulie 'Walnuts' Pliosaurus (#11) conquered 72 land from 🍈Taylor Swift Patron Saint of the Swif-Titties🍈 (#1).<br/>
2024-01-16 13:48:54	Victorious on the battlefield, Elvisaurus (#11) conquered 65 land from 🍈Taylor Swift Patron Saint of the Swif-Titties🍈 (#1).<br/>
2024-01-16 14:59:31	Smoke less weed 💨 Burn more peasants 🔥 (#5) invaded LachAdonnen (#1) and captured 62 land.<br/>
2024-01-16 15:49:17	Lemme tell ya a couple 'o three things (#7) invaded LachAdonnen (#1) and captured 51 land.<br/>
2024-01-16 15:51:44	Bada Bing (#7) invaded LachAdonnen (#1) and captured 47 land.<br/>
2024-01-16 17:30:27	Victorious on the battlefield, Weekend at Bernie'Saurus-Rex (#11) conquered 65 land from Trees, ducks. What the --- are you, Ranger Rick? (#7).<br/>
</blockquote>

At this point we were fully expecting to eat a war or multiple wars. I made the decision to train to 100 spies and 200 wizards, costing me 1500 OP. Bobbo and Merf took their chances. The war never came, but I hilariously started repelling tons and tons of ops and swarms. Cronel was putting Spell Reflect up and caught the only swarm that made it through. He was on 10% towers and AgFx almost 20% so maybe that had something to do with us not getting warred.

For the next wave, we were finding targets but low on defense to hit them. We noticed plat on the guy Merf had just hit and rev'd to find Ares down and we immediately sent without even really checking our DP because we could keep quite a bit home. More mountains… are you seeing a pattern yet? Merf was able to squeeze in a hit, just barely defending #5 kobbo's [B’s] spec drop.

<blockquote>
2024-01-17 01:30:23	Victorious on the battlefield, Elvisaurus (#11) conquered 59 land from Trees, ducks. What the --- are you, Ranger Rick? (#7).<br/>
2024-01-17 01:31:17	Victorious on the battlefield, Paulie 'Walnuts' Pliosaurus (#11) conquered 53 land from Trees, ducks. What the --- are you, Ranger Rick? (#7).<br/>
2024-01-17 05:59:49	Victorious on the battlefield, Weekend at Bernie'Saurus-Rex (#11) conquered 60 land from Ice Pube (#10).<br/>
</blockquote>

The #5 kobbo [B] used his specs to make a massive hit, but he was relying too heavily on draftee defense. We were also worried that he could drop underlings. So we rallied the realm to assassinate everything we could. Merf could break him if we got him down to 400 (from 1100+ over several hours). We barely got it done for him. At this point, Merf is the biggest attacker in the game already and has land incoming. Meanwhile, Bobbo and I had been sitting for the first time to train up.

<blockquote>
2024-01-17 10:59:54	Sleep Better 💤 Run Faster 🏃‍♂️ (#5) invaded Miss Calculated (#2) and captured 73 land.<br/>
2024-01-17 17:59:39	Victorious on the battlefield, Weekend at Bernie'Saurus-Rex (#11) conquered 70 land from Sleep Better 💤 Run Faster 🏃‍♂️ (#5).<br/>
</blockquote>

The following hour, #5 liz [allegorical] dropped 900 reptiles to coincide with incoming GN, putting him well ahead of Merf's DP (and everyone else on a full send). Bobbo and I planned to hit as scheduled and just see who gets hit. A common saying in our pack is "they can't hit us all!". I found 5 or more targets that we could hit, all 80%+ which was wild. The biggest was #3 FW, but only Bobbo could break due to his higher temple count. I decided I would wait and retal the liz and I brought up the idea to just do it early in the hour to give the rest of the field the opportunity to capitalize on the sui. It worked, but the liz ended up better defended than we thought (mostly from assassinating Merf), so only #7 could follow up.

<blockquote>
2024-01-18 02:59:57	Learn how to swim Build more docks (#5) invaded fellow dominion Weekend at Bernie'Saurus-Rex (#11) and captured 102 land.<br/>
2024-01-18 02:59:58	Victorious on the battlefield, Elvisaurus (#11) conquered 75 land from To not compete against my fellow realmies. (#3).<br/>
2024-01-18 03:06:05	Victorious on the battlefield, Paulie 'Walnuts' Pliosaurus (#11) conquered 62 land from Learn how to swim Build more docks (#5).<br/>
2024-01-18 03:19:34	Lemme tell ya a couple 'o three things (#7) invaded Learn how to swim Build more docks (#5) and captured 59 land.<br/>
2024-01-18 03:21:37	Bada Bing (#7) invaded Learn how to swim Build more docks (#5) and captured 58 land.<br/>
</blockquote>

At this point it really feels like we have knocked #5 out of the running with hits on the kobbo (who we also robbed and he actually explored to spend his plat since his draftees were decimated) and the lizard's sui. #7 are still a big threat, so we planned to war them soon. Merf rebuilt and was back up to 21k peasants (vs 15k on me and Bobbo), though his OP was spent.

I woke up the next morning and ran some calcs. #5 halfer [DavetheGoliath] had just enough OP (77 GN and 600 slingers) to hit Merf all in. So it looked like we had to war in 3 hours to sink him. We were able to get everyone online 20 minutes before the end of the tick, when AgFx arrived home from work. We sunk all of the halfers boats taking him to 25k OP from 36k. We also did full FB damage to their icer even though our wiz str was low. Now we just had to worry about #7 halfer [Sugarjon] who was pushing OP (37k).

A few hours after sinking, #7 declared on us and fireballed Bobbo (10k peasants). Their halfer was still pushing massive OP, now ~40k/43k with war. We started looking for an easier hit for Bobbo since he had better numbers than me and I would stay home to keep from turning #7 completely loose. He could hit at least four of our explorers safely though. I spotted a guy in #5 (the other kobold) who looked light but the old rax we had on him showed insane spy numbers incoming. We asked Saccora to do his halfling magic and he still could only get 2/3 ops. Plenty of fails later, we decided to assume 5% walls and make the hit. Toothy got a lucky break and showed us a castle with 0.89% and Bobbo left 600 staffies home. #7 sent soon after and we were shocked to see that he was open to me. If he released and invested, I still had him by 10 OP. I don't know if he miscalced, forgot about morale, didn't know #5 was sunk or what happened. They had spent a lot of str blopping us, so maybe just didn't have good Intel.

<blockquote>
2024-01-18 16:39:56	Dinosaurs can't go on boats, they cause too many Ship Rex. (#11) has declared WAR on In 2024 I want to... (#5).<br/>
2024-01-18 19:47:56	Theres an old Italian saying--you f- up once, you lose 2 fins! (#7) has declared WAR on Dinosaurs can't go on boats, they cause too many Ship Rex. (#11).<br/>
2024-01-19 00:59:34	Victorious on the battlefield, Elvisaurus (#11) conquered 64 land from Join the Gym 🏋️‍♂️ Draft more peasants (#5).<br/>
2024-01-19 02:56:09	Lemme tell ya a couple 'o three things (#7) invaded Attack of the Killer tomatoes (#8) and captured 64 land.<br/>
2024-01-19 03:59:30	Victorious on the battlefield, Paulie 'Walnuts' Pliosaurus (#11) conquered 88 land from Lemme tell ya a couple 'o three things (#7).<br/>
</blockquote>

Everyone made it home safe. We switched to sinking and fireballing #7 first thing in the morning. His sui OP was still pretty insane. I got fireballed during the night, so Bobbo and I were sitting on min peasants (12k out of 15k/17k).

== Days 7-10: Realm #7 and the Outpost ==

I had been pushing offense while Bobbo recovered. We had been sinking #7 all day. Merf started looking for a hit. We noticed that #7 nox was just barely hittable by me. We all got on voice and ran about a million calcs with how many boats #7 protected and how his protection changes hour by hour with incoming docks and day change. It was going to be razor razor thin, like coming down to 1 boat. Then we checked his rev and Ares was off, so I immediately sent. The margin was no longer as thin, but I was still relying on the realm to do max sink damage to keep me alive. Merf found an easy hit and we kept #7 sunk throughout the night. He sent out as soon as he had enough boats.

<blockquote>
2024-01-19 22:10:51	Victorious on the battlefield, Paulie 'Walnuts' Pliosaurus (#11) conquered 73 land from Is This a Girl Thing? (#7).<br/>
2024-01-19 23:59:33	Victorious on the battlefield, Weekend at Bernie'Saurus-Rex (#11) conquered 68 land from Slippery when wet (#3).<br/>
2024-01-20 13:59:54	Lemme tell ya a couple 'o three things (#7) invaded Rio Da Yung OG (#12) and captured 59 land.<br/>
</blockquote>

We were keeping an eye on the kobold in #5 [Mantil] with insane ratios so that we could cancel war at the right time and allow us to make one last hit with the bonus. #7 cancelled soon after. I had two potential targets lined up #8 merfolk [oceanu] and #2 nox (Bobbo would have to send first for me to follow). #12 was training insane amounts of OP and mods. It looked like they were making an attempt to 5:4 one of us unexpectedly. So we had to run a lot of calcs. Merf eventually made a war hit on #5. A few hours later, he popped back into Bobbo's range, so we took the easy hit. That left me with only one option, #8. The numbers were really tight against #12. I had to consider one lizard razing me for the other. It was going to come down to draftees probably, but I decided to definitely take the hit because I had no OP incoming and it would have set me back a day. The weaker lizard immediately sent on a bot, so I was safe. Meanwhile, #8 gobbo [DanTheMan] made his first hit. I had considered skipping my DB to keep him in range, but decided against it. He still wouldn't be able to 9hr. #7 also bounced on the #5 guy that we hit. Felt bad for him. That guy had insane ratios.

<blockquote>
2024-01-20 16:31:10	Dinosaurs can't go on boats, they cause too many Ship Rex. (#11) has CANCELED war against In 2024 I want to... (#5).<br/>
2024-01-20 19:28:57	Theres an old Italian saying--you f- up once, you lose 2 fins! (#7) has CANCELED war against Dinosaurs can't go on boats, they cause too many Ship Rex. (#11).<br/>
2024-01-20 21:02:58	Victorious on the battlefield, Weekend at Bernie'Saurus-Rex (#11) conquered 73 land from Join the Gym 🏋️‍♂️ Draft more peasants (#5).<br/>
2024-01-21 03:59:25	Victorious on the battlefield, Elvisaurus (#11) conquered 74 land from Join the Gym 🏋️‍♂️ Draft more peasants (#5).<br/>
2024-01-21 06:59:46	Pepper Ann (#8) invaded Iceyblastwhitening Party (#0) and captured 57 land.<br/>
2024-01-21 06:59:54	Join the Gym 🏋️‍♂️ Draft more peasants (#5) fended off an attack from Lemme tell ya a couple 'o three things (#7).<br/>
2024-01-21 08:59:57	Victorious on the battlefield, Paulie 'Walnuts' Pliosaurus (#11) conquered 81 land from The Powerpuff Girls (#8).<br/>
2024-01-21 09:05:43	Daily Dose of Vitamin Nate (#12) invaded Gluttony a burning Hunger (#0) and captured 65 land.<br/>
</blockquote>

Bobbo logged in this morning and followed my hit on #8 merfolk. #8 gobbo [DanTheMan] then made a 9hr hit. It looked like we wouldn't have held him back regardless.

<blockquote>
2024-01-21 15:59:15	Victorious on the battlefield, Elvisaurus (#11) conquered 73 land from The Powerpuff Girls (#8).<br/>
2024-01-21 15:59:50	Pepper Ann (#8) invaded Wirewood Edge (#0) and captured 55 land.<br/>
2024-01-21 16:40:31	Mystery Box (#12) invaded Ringbearer is back again! (#0) and captured 68 land.<br/>
</blockquote>

While trying to figure out if I could possibly send again, we found an icer (of course) in #6 who looked borderline, Michelangelo [Neophyte]. I had dumped my FG plat into 780 sals since I was totally safe now. #12 Mystery Box [Damdred] then sent, which freed me up to add spec OP. I dumped another 100 sals and 811 sprites. Even with full mountain %, I was looking like I'd clear his paid DP by 2.5k. Merf had a target lined up and could potentially draw out a #12 sui, but will be safe when I plan to hit. Once #12 got his land in, he built GT and DM, so he wasn't able to threaten a sui to stop me. #12 continued to train out DP, missing an opportunity to make me think twice about a hit and #7 sent, burning his OP (my only two threats).

The #6 icer actually ended up being safe because we missed his castle. We then gathered ops on most everyone in range to make sure my specs didn't go to waste. The top target was #1 Einstein [lamb] (icekin), then there were a handful of guys to watch for drafts or Ares drops. Einstein ended up stacking 2k drafts and rezoning enough to be safe. So we ended up taking an Ares drop on #12 FW [Puntti]. We went late in the hour because we were still evaluating other options and waiting on Cronel to get home to help assassinate. Mystery Box [Damdred] had JUST dropped huge mods but I'd be home the same hour (though I was safe anyway). Really wished I would have gotten another icekin here, but alas.

Meanwhile, Cronel had cycloned the outpost 3x one hour and AgFx 2x the next and we captured it. We had dealt about 30k to it days ago (prior to our two wars) but it was still a LOT of damage from elsewhere.

<blockquote>
2024-01-21 22:14:35	The Wayfarer's Outpost has been destroyed and rebuilt by After a dinosaur works out, it’s dino-sore. (#11).<br/>
2024-01-22 02:59:05	Victorious on the battlefield, Weekend at Bernie'Saurus-Rex (#11) conquered 73 land from Everyone in England is being turned into Scotsmen (#4).<br/>
2024-01-22 04:28:25	Victorious on the battlefield, Paulie 'Walnuts' Pliosaurus (#11) conquered 86 land from Do not Playtoi with my pussycat 😸 (#12).<br/>
</blockquote>

Bobbo dropped specs to try to catch the icekin in #1 Swifty [jboy], but he was able to fend off the hit. Shortly after, #8 spirit [zooj] had sent and was borderline. We got into an epic assassinate/release/invest battle with him and were able to pull off a hit. There was some drama in Discord later about #8’s send, but I think he made a very reasonable gamble and nearly walked away safely. Meanwhile, Mystery Box #12 [Damdred] made a hit that left himself open to Merf and I was able to hit the firewalker again, but spell on this time.

<blockquote>
2024-01-22 22:55:25	Victorious on the battlefield, Attack of the Killer tomatoes (#8) conquered 59 land from La Camera Matrimoniale (#0).<br/>
2024-01-23 03:59:56	Victorious on the battlefield, Elvisaurus (#11) conquered 79 land from Attack of the Killer tomatoes (#8).<br/>
2024-01-23 04:07:13	Victorious on the battlefield, Mystery Box (#12) conquered 76 land from Hailstorm Prime (#0).<br/>
2024-01-23 07:59:45	Victorious on the battlefield, Weekend at Bernie'Saurus-Rex (#11) conquered 92 land from Mystery Box (#12).<br/>
2024-01-23 15:59:50	Victorious on the battlefield, Paulie 'Walnuts' Pliosaurus (#11) conquered 87 land from Do not Playtoi with my pussycat 😸 (#12).<br/>
</blockquote>

== Days 11-18: Suicidal Maniacs ==

Bobbo was able to hit #4 kobbo [Stereoboyz] with minimal assassination. During this time we kept trying to catch Sloxx (members only) with Ares down, but he'd often have just enough DP arrive when it would fall off to be safe without. #7 liz [Downrightdave] then sent and I was only about 3k short on him, but perfect timing because the day just changed so I had a plat bonus and plenty of draftees. I dropped 1040 specs then traded gems for 364 more the following hour to get 82k. #7 could train DP to defend me in 9, but would then not have enough drafts to defend me in 8. We then checked everyone in my range to see who was open. Only #12 FW [Gipsa] looked like a possibility without spell drop.

<blockquote>
2024-01-24 01:59:47	Victorious on the battlefield, Elvisaurus (#11) conquered 88 land from Stereoboyz (#4).<br/>
2024-01-24 01:59:52	Bada Bing (#7) invaded Resolc yna emoc tnod (#0) and captured 72 land.	<br/>
</blockquote>

Well, I fucked up. #12 noticed my specs and their lizardfolk [Ivetza] dropped ~500 lizmen and ~700 reptiles to match them. I absent-mindedly trained sals when I woke up and couldn't defend it. I then traded all my resources for spec DP to match what I could. The hit on #12 FW [Gipsa] was definitely off. Bada Bing #7 [Downrightdave] was training through the night, so his draftees were in bad enough shape that I could probably leave enough turtle home to make the hit, but it was going to be super close. Then I get a message from Cronel that #5 kobbo [B] has Ares off. My specs weren't even in yet (next two hours), but it allowed me to keep even more at home than hitting #7, so I took it. Happy little accident. The rest of the realm then made hits and Lud was finally converted!

<blockquote>
2024-01-24 10:09:51	Victorious on the battlefield, Paulie 'Walnuts' Pliosaurus (#11) conquered 110 land from Sleep Better 💤 Run Faster 🏃‍♂️ (#5).<br/>
2024-01-24 14:57:02	Victorious on the battlefield, Weekend at Bernie'Saurus-Rex (#11) conquered 84 land from Reborn (#4).<br/>
2024-01-24 17:29:38	Victorious on the battlefield, Night of the Living Shred (#11) conquered 41 land from Suede-denim Secret Police (#0).<br/>
2024-01-25 02:57:07	Victorious on the battlefield, Elvisaurus (#11) conquered 98 land from 🍈Taylor Swift Patron Saint of the Swif-Titties🍈 (#1).<br/>
2024-01-25 14:59:51	Victorious on the battlefield, I'm the Zby, gotta love me (#11) conquered 63 land from Hot Chocolate (#0).<br/>
</blockquote>

So, at this point in the round, I got busy with work and #7 Bada Bing [Downrightdave] was training ridiculous 5:4 offense against us. We were just training and training for days and I checked out to some extent. Merf and Lud kept rolling, though.

<blockquote>
2024-01-26 21:59:53	Victorious on the battlefield, Weekend at Bernie'Saurus-Rex (#11) conquered 93 land from 🧚Sarah Lahbahti Patron Saint of Gastoseros🧚 (#1).<br/>
2024-01-26 22:34:12	Victorious on the battlefield, I'm the Zby, gotta love me (#11) conquered 65 land from Hot Chocolate (#0).<br/>
</blockquote>

At one point Merf posted in Discord that Bobbo and I should be training nothing but offense. I just assumed Merf was being Merf and I trained a few more hours spec DP. Then he messaged me and said I should drop spec OP because the #5 goblin [Disco] was coming into range. He then pointed out that Bada Bing #7 [Downrightdave] was already 5:4 limited, which I had not even looked at. So here I was over-defended with dwindling peasants. I ran the numbers and saw that I needed to come up with about 400 draftees to hit #5 [Disco] all in. After checking my DP hour by hour, I decided I could afford to release 525 spec DP, so I dumped them into offense. I ended up just barely defending #7 after breaking the guy (safe from 35 sals left at home). Merf and Bobbo had targets lined up. Bobbo was gunning for the #8 dwarf [Gothia] who Merf opted not to hit OOP. We organized an assassination campaign and Bobbo sent early in the hour to draw Bada Bing #7 [Downrightdave] out for Lud to send. We then declared war and fireballed the dwarf to add insult to injury.

<blockquote>
2024-01-27 14:55:12	Victorious on the battlefield, Paulie 'Walnuts' Pliosaurus (#11) conquered 109 land from Earn more money 💰 Plunder more plat 🪙 (#5).<br/>
2024-01-27 15:59:54	Victorious on the battlefield, Weekend at Bernie'Saurus-Rex (#11) conquered 99 land from Attack of the Killer tomatoes (#8).<br/>
2024-01-27 22:41:17	Victorious on the battlefield, Elvisaurus (#11) conquered 106 land from Johnny Bravo (#8).<br/>
2024-01-27 22:43:35	Pepper Ann (#8) invaded All About Moles (#0) and captured 83 land.<br/>
2024-01-27 22:45:34	Bada Bing (#7) invaded Lady Stardust (#0) and captured 80 land.<br/>
2024-01-27 22:53:43	Victorious on the battlefield, I'm the Zby, gotta love me (#11) conquered 72 land from Black Diamond (#0).<br/>
2024-01-27 23:04:01	Saturdays have never been more Carnivorous (#11) has declared WAR on Saturdays have never been more Cartoonish (#8).<br/>
</blockquote>

With war declared on #8, I now had an opportunity to try to hit their goblin Pepper Ann [DanTheMan] all in. I mass trained sals after a good FG sleep and dumped spec OP after. I had enough RP to take my first OP tech, but was holding onto it. We planned to snare about 5 hours before all my OP arrived (and war would be active). I was actually slightly 5:4 limited here with the war bonus, but still had plenty to break. Pepper Ann had decent spies, so we needed all the help we could get keeping Ares off for that timespan. The plan was to disband as many spies as we could the hour before he'd get Rejuvenation and snare immediately after the hour change. We disbanded in the final 30-40 seconds, but he recast before the tick and we called off the snare. Our backup plan was the #5 kobbo [I forget which one] who was looking very questionable. It would require some assassination, but luckily we hadn't used our strength. As it got closer, #5 actually ended up spending 750 drafts, so the assassination wasn't even necessary. It was still razor thin (breaking by <200 and safe by <300 vs #7) But with about 15 minutes left in the hour, #5 logged in and checked my ops (the lyc had already been sniffing around- maybe woke his buddy up for the save). Then he invested about 43k germs into walls to be comfortably safe. We immediately pivoted to Sloxxor #4 whose Ares was coming down. I was 7 OP away before his new drafts. He was breakable if we got ~20 successful assassinates off and he didn't recast. But he came online and invested + recast (he had like 2 minutes while we were fiddling with the ops). Third option was now #9 icekin [Esthera] who had sent out a little too much against the mining machine. We had a stellar barracks spy that showed him breakable by 50 OP after investing everything. Had to stay awake one more hour, but the specs did not go to waste.

<blockquote>
2024-01-29 06:59:53	Victorious on the battlefield, Paulie 'Walnuts' Pliosaurus (#11) conquered 114 land from Tongue is black (#9).
</blockquote>

Next, #8 spirit [zooj] made an attack that would send him into Merf and Bobbo's range. There was an additional round of Discord drama here. The Rules Committee took away his generated land, preventing him from going into Bobbo's range ~40k underdefended. Bobbo decided to take a war BF on #8 [Crazy Elf] to express his unhappiness in the ruling [there was an assumption that #8 had reported their own guy here, but they had not in this particular case].

<blockquote>
2024-01-29 19:16:02	Victorious on the battlefield, Weekend at Bernie'Saurus-Rex (#11) conquered 120 land from Attack of the Killer tomatoes (#8).<br/>
2024-01-29 22:59:17	Victorious on the battlefield, Elvisaurus (#11) conquered 108 land from Duck Tales (#8).<br/>
2024-01-29 23:48:41	Fellow dominion Elvisaurus (#11) fended off an attack from Attack of the Killer tomatoes (#8).<br/>
</blockquote>

Bobbo missed an opportunity to BF into #8 again before war expired (overslept), but made two more BFs to try to get some steam going. Meanwhile, I got an Ares drop hit on #12 dwarf [Yeeeoow] and Lud was still picking up momentum. Merf was able to spec drop #7 liz [Downrightdave] when he sent out.

<blockquote>
2024-01-30 07:59:56	Victorious on the battlefield, I'm the Zby, gotta love me (#11) conquered 81 land from Land of The Shire (#0).<br/>
2024-01-30 09:00:30	Victorious on the battlefield, Paulie 'Walnuts' Pliosaurus (#11) conquered 139 land from A Dwarf dominion. (#12).<br/>
2024-01-30 09:58:57	Victorious on the battlefield, Weekend at Bernie'Saurus-Rex (#11) conquered 117 land from Bada Bing (#7).<br/>
2024-01-30 17:58:26	Victorious on the battlefield, Elvisaurus (#11) conquered 80 land from Ringbearer is back again! (#0).<br/>
2024-01-31 05:58:29	Victorious on the battlefield, Elvisaurus (#11) conquered 87 land from Attack of the Killer tomatoes (#8).<br/>
2024-01-31 06:59:13	Victorious on the battlefield, I'm the Zby, gotta love me (#11) conquered 84 land from McDeere Obfuscated Me (#0).<br/>
</blockquote>

== Days 19-25: Hard Times ==

Next, I tried to Ares drop #12 Daily Dose [Ivetza] who had come into range just barely defended. He recast in the tax collection window and forced a bounce.

<blockquote>
2024-01-31 18:00:06	Sadly, the forces of Paulie 'Walnuts' Pliosaurus (#11) were beaten back by Daily Dose of Vitamin Nate (#12).<br/>
</blockquote>

I then tried to Ares drop #12 FW [Gipsa], but he also recast in the tax collection window. Didn't fool me this time, though. #8 warred us to prevent Harm from hitting their spirit [zooj] when his land came in (via sinking). Harm had to go ahead and hit him right away, but still was an 85% hit, just smaller than he wanted. So now our gnome was converted! We had been planning to sink #3 dwarf [cerbrus] so Merf could send, but now things were in question. I tried for another Ares drop on #12 dwarf [Yeeeoow], this time well after the tax collection window, but they somehow caught me again. Hats off to them. It seemed like the universe was against me with that luck [I later checked the history and for both bounces, Ares was cast within a few hundred milliseconds of our revelations, ~200ms and ~600ms]. We went mutual with #8 and then Merf bottomfed on a really underdefended dwarf [Mulla], who we later found out would have entered my range, whoops- another mistake.

<blockquote>
2024-02-01 19:53:34	Saturdays have never been more Cartoonish (#8) has declared WAR on A British dinosaur is called a tea rex. (#11).<br/>
2024-02-01 20:07:06	Victorious on the battlefield, Velocisapper (#11) conquered 123 land from Attack of the Killer tomatoes (#8).<br/>
2024-02-01 21:00:14	Sadly, the forces of Paulie 'Walnuts' Pliosaurus (#11) were beaten back by A Dwarf dominion. (#12).<br/>
2024-02-01 22:59:18	Isla Nooblar spotted! (#11) has declared WAR on Saturdays have never been more Cartoonish (#8).<br/>
2024-02-02 00:59:21	Victorious on the battlefield, Weekend at Bernie'Saurus-Rex (#11) conquered 115 land from Eyes are Orange (#9).<br/>
2024-02-02 03:59:57	Victorious on the battlefield, I'm the Zby, gotta love me (#11) conquered 117 land from Kamikaze Games (#0).<br/>
</blockquote>

Not much to say about the war, we kept pestering Johnny Bravo #8 [Gothia] and they were throwing everything they had at Harm. They also assassinated a sizeable number of Lud's wizards at one point. After this, #3's smaller firewalker [margoose] explored into range. Harm was able to follow up with a 75% hit to keep his boats afloat. Then we both unceremoniously canceled our wars.

<blockquote>
2024-02-02 22:59:58	Victorious on the battlefield, Paulie 'Walnuts' Pliosaurus (#11) conquered 134 land from To not compete against my fellow realmies (#3).<br/>
2024-02-03 01:20:14	Cheshire Cat (#13) invaded Attack of the Killer tomatoes (#8) and captured 131 land.<br/>
2024-02-03 03:11:57	Victorious on the battlefield, Velocisapper (#11) conquered 133 land from What's for Peter, is for Peter. (#13).<br/>
2024-02-03 12:00:12	Victorious on the battlefield, I'm the Zby, gotta love me (#11) conquered 144 land from Attack of the Killer tomatoes (#8).<br/>
2024-02-03 19:00:09	Saturdays have never been more Cartoonish (#8) has CANCELED war against A British dinosaur is called a tea rex. (#11).<br/>
2024-02-03 23:51:52	Isla Nooblar spotted! (#11) has CANCELED war against Saturdays have never been more Cartoonish (#8).<br/>
</blockquote>

Cheshire Cat (#13) [mdk] was now looking really good. 30k peasants and approaching 160k/170k OP/DP. Great prestige, good DM, both barren techs, and lots of room for mods. Chicken Little invaded our realm discord. The team was really worried about what to do with him. Sinking probably wouldn't slow him for long with all that barren he could just drop into docks. Fireballing might hurt a little, but Harm would probably take even more shit from #13. Loki #13 [King Jota] and Joker #13 [AlexJones] were both bringing in towers and spy/wiz. Looks like war will be imminent either way. I held my land DB until the final seconds to put some distance between me and Cheshire (do not want to be double DB away from having to defend him). Mcgeeal finally passed #5 lyc [Chunk] for top land! Later, Cronel and I were doing our nightly rounds queueing up Ares drop hits when Silly Sigge (#7) [Nuejagsur] popped into range. Easy hit. He must have immediately realized he screwed up because he still had 8 straight hours of miners rolling in.

<blockquote>
2024-02-05 06:59:59	Victorious on the battlefield, Paulie 'Walnuts' Pliosaurus (#11) conquered 146 land from Silly Sigge (#7).<br/>
</blockquote>

Then we had a really rough day. Merf was starting to struggle and Bobbo looked to be effectively dead. Merf was trying his best to pull Harm and Lud up while he had the OP to do so. He asked Harm for some advance notice when he was planning to send and Harm replied 12-17 hours. So, Merf dumped a ton of specs to try and protect Harm and then he would have to find a target himself with his population in the toilet. The hour comes and we start looking for targets. There doesn’t appear to be anyone in 85%, so Harm would have to settle for a bot. There were a few dwarves with decent suicide OP at this point #3 [cerbrus], #8 [Gothia], and #10 [volv]. Harm was hesitant, wanting to wait for an 85% hit and try to defend everyone’s 5:4. Looking at his training, we were talking like 48 more hours to get there. In 48 hours, #13 Cheshire [mdk] could be miles ahead. We weren’t sure who might want to suicide and feed Bobbo, Merf, and potentially the rest of the field. So we urged Harm to go ahead and send. We had the lowest defense bot picked out for him, but he decided to hit one with slightly higher DP for the land types (hills). Merf and Bobbo were going to stay back and crush anyone who screwed with Harm. Well, #10 DMXX [volv] decided to pull the trigger. We completely missed the fact that he was out of Merf’s range. Bobbo had just gone to sleep and was offline for a solid 9 hours (unspeakable!). Once Bobbo was online the next morning, we decided to wait until the last few hours before sending so that nobody else would jump in on Harm. Before he could send, #13 Eris [Vinn] sniped DMXX out of range. Merf was going to hit Eris, but #3 dwarf [cerbrus] was still sitting on massive 5:4. We decided to war and sink him in a last ditch effort to pull off the hit, but we didn’t sink enough in time. Johnny Bravo #8 [Gothia] then followed up on DMXX [volv].

<blockquote>
2024-02-06 06:59:27	Victorious on the battlefield, Velocisapper (#11) conquered 128 land from Iceyblastwhitening Party (#0).<br/>
2024-02-06 07:44:24	DMXXX (#10) invaded fellow dominion Velocisapper (#11) and captured 208 land.<br/>
2024-02-06 16:35:44	Eris (#13) invaded DMXXX (#10) and captured 162 land.<br/>
2024-02-06 17:34:55	What did a dinosaur say to the cashier? Keep the climate change! (#11) has declared WAR on Do not feed the wildlife! They are on a special diet. (#3).<br/>
2024-02-06 17:48:58	Johnny Bravo (#8) invaded DMXXX (#10) and captured 150 land.<br/>
</blockquote>

Harm was upset about getting hit and left the realm Discord. We were suggesting that he train out rockapults and retal DMXX upon his return, but he didn’t get the messages. He didn’t train much of anything and at one point his platinum disappeared, we can only assume it went into walls. Once he built his land, he started training tons of spies and wizards which set him back even further. I think he could have still been in great shape if not for shooting himself in the foot. Team morale was really low for a bit. Merf extended an olive branch in council and we  got Harm back a day or so later. We’re sorry, Harm!

I had dropped specs to line up a hit on #12 Ivetza [Blafiora] who entered range with borderline DP, but he was investing and drafting up, eventually to 3900 draftees. Miss Conduct #2 [Slice] then entered range underdefended, but so did Johnny Bravo #8 [Gothia] who could suicide me. He was barely defending me all-in and I had a plan to hit him back out of range. He had gotten a ton of mountains in and we thought he might build GN to threaten me. I was going to raze towers into temples and drop spec DP afterward to break him if he did. But the first thing he built was GT. I didn’t want to be in range of this guy, so I dropped the spec DP anyway so nobody could pull anything against me and dropped guard for a BF to get back out of range. By this time #3 dwarf [cerbrus] was sunk enough to not be a threat, then Merf and Lud were able to finally send.

<blockquote>
2024-02-07 09:59:33	Victorious on the battlefield, Paulie 'Walnuts' Pliosaurus (#11) conquered 88 land from The DemonWeb Pits (#0).<br/>
2024-02-07 14:59:48	Victorious on the battlefield, Weekend at Bernie'Saurus-Rex (#11) conquered 145 land from Miss Calculated (#2).<br/>
2024-02-07 15:13:53	Victorious on the battlefield, I'm the Zby, gotta love me (#11) conquered 129 land from Revelation (#0).<br/>
</blockquote>

== Days 26-36: The Sylvan ==

The next few days were exhausting as everyone in my range had insane defense, many of them safe without Ares on. I queued up Ares drop invasions over and over again, only to have them called off when recast. Several of the explorers were casting in the hour change to screw with us. There was zero chance of me gaining much ground on any of these guys otherwise. Most had 280k DP or more while my OP was around 250k. I finally caught Ivetza #12 [Blafiora]. Cheshire #13 [mdk] had come safely into my range and could technically 5:4 me, but it would certainly end his round. Meanwhile, #3 took down the Outpost, holding it for (checks watch…) five whole hours. We took it back ASAP and it went from 250k to 980k HP.

<blockquote>
2024-02-08 16:58:49	The Wayfarer's Outpost has been destroyed and rebuilt by I got warred by #11 and all I got was this lousy t-shirt (#3).<br/>
2024-02-08 17:58:55	Velocisapper (#11) has attacked the Wayfarer's Outpost (#11)!<br/>
2024-02-08 18:59:59	I'm the Zby, gotta love me (#11) has attacked the Wayfarer's Outpost (#11)!<br/>
2024-02-08 19:46:31	Night of the Living Shred (#11) has attacked the Wayfarer's Outpost (#11)!<br/>
2024-02-08 21:37:27	Elvisaurus (#11) has attacked the Wayfarer's Outpost (#11)!<br/>
2024-02-08 21:52:19	The Wayfarer's Outpost has been destroyed and rebuilt by Jurassic times call for Jurassic measures. (#11).<br/>
2024-02-09 01:00:29	Victorious on the battlefield, Paulie 'Walnuts' Pliosaurus (#11) conquered 169 land from Ivetza the worst round winner ever! <br/>(#12).
</blockquote>

'''I got really busy IRL at this point, so my notes start to get fuzzy.'''

Bobbo decided to bottomfeed and deconvert. Merf finally got his hit on Rio. Lud continued to grow, making 2 hits in 2 days. The second hit was after a very poor converting dwarf in #12 sent for the first time and was crushed 5x [Yeeeoow]. Michelangelo #6 [Neophyte] was first in and it propelled him into a good position. Meanwhile, Lud made a huge hit on the #13 undead [jdh]. At some point, both Cheshire #13 [mdk] and Johnny Bravo #8 [Gothia] were able to enter my range and suddenly I needed like 30k more defense, basically killing my chances for a win. If I had been more engaged during this part of the round, I would have bottomfed to escape his range again. I trained a little defense, but then pulled the plug and went back to training 5:4 to support Lud.

<blockquote>
2024-02-09 15:55:09	Victorious on the battlefield, Elvisaurus (#11) conquered 68 land from Star Ocean: Second Story (#0).<br/>
2024-02-09 20:59:33	Victorious on the battlefield, Weekend at Bernie'Saurus-Rex (#11) conquered 155 land from Top 5 (#8).<br/>
2024-02-10 03:16:56	Victorious on the battlefield, I'm the Zby, gotta love me (#11) conquered 124 land from 🌶 John Wick Patron Saints of "BABAYAGA" 🌶 (#1).<br/>
2024-02-11 11:59:42	Victorious on the battlefield, Velocisapper (#11) conquered 165 land from Everyone in England is being turned into Scotsmen (#4).<br/>
2024-02-11 20:58:17	Michelangelo (#6) invaded A Dwarf dominion. (#12) and captured 176 land.<br/>
2024-02-11 21:14:06	Victorious on the battlefield, I'm the Zby, gotta love me (#11) conquered 190 land from Anansi🕷️ (#13).<br/>
</blockquote>

At this point, the Sylvan in #4 [Jcinnz] was looking really good. Lud had been very worried about him for a while (as well as #13 nomad). He was pretty open to being sunk, so we decided to go after him first before going after #13. Merf was able to sneak another hit in before everyone’s numbers started to go nuts. #13 Cheshire [mdk] was able to pull off a 9hr, so then it was his turn. We wanted to get burning on him before his first land gain, but weren’t all awake and went after him before the second.

<blockquote>
2024-02-12 03:31:41	Movin' our Hips 🕺 while Sinking your Ships 🦖 (#11) has declared WAR on Ministry of Silly Wonders (#4).<br/>
2024-02-13 02:59:52	Victorious on the battlefield, Weekend at Bernie'Saurus-Rex (#11) conquered 178 land from To not steal my realmies hit (#3).<br/>
2024-02-13 21:10:57	Cheshire Cat (#13) invaded To not steal my realmies hit (#3) and captured 211 land.<br/>
2024-02-14 06:09:34	Cheshire Cat (#13) invaded Druidless Woods (#0) and captured 163 land.<br/>
2024-02-14 03:54:04	Movin' our Hips 🕺 while Sinking your Ships 🦖 (#11) has CANCELED war against Ministry of Silly Wonders (#4).<br/>
2024-02-14 09:59:12	Victorious on the battlefield, Velocisapper (#11) conquered 191 land from Rio Da Yung OG (#12).<br/>
2024-02-14 16:59:11	You make my heart saur! ❤️ (#11) has declared WAR on It's Tricky... Tr-tr-tr-tricky (Tricky) Trrrrrrrrrrricky (#13).<br/>
</blockquote>

The Sylvan [Jcinnz] finally got his boats back in order and made a pair of 9hr hits himself. #6 icer was able to hit a guy just before he would have entered Lud’s range. Jerry [mris] made a risky hit, but we let him keep it. Then, we finally get to the excitement. #4 sylvan [Jcinnz] sent out clearly hittable by Lud, but Lud would be open to the Johnny Bravo suicide that we’ve been dancing around for weeks. Lud is still really concerned about him, so decides to make the hit. Johnny Bravo then suicides him as promsied. Lud then decides to turn into a 5:4 machine himself to keep Cheshire from passing mcgeeal, our last remaining win condition. Jerry was able to hit the gnome [Rury] who sent on Lud and the sylvan 9hr bottomfed into our realm. All of the action freed up Cheshire to hit #5 icer [soup], which Harm then followed. Now Merf and I had the choice of sui’ing Jerry [mris] or making a safer hit on either #5 icer [soup], #10 gnome [Rury], or one each (knowing we may never send again). We decided to double the gnome to get revenge for the hit on Harm by DMXX. Cheshire and #6 [Neophyte] were able to make additional hits in the aftermath (lucky Ares drop by #6).

<blockquote>
2024-02-15 01:21:41	Shes beautiful,rich,shes got huge.. tracts of land (#4) invaded Rio Da Yung OG (#12) and captured 151 land.<br/>
2024-02-15 10:46:25	Shes beautiful,rich,shes got huge.. tracts of land (#4) invaded 🧚Sarah Lahbahti Patron Saint of Gastoseros🧚 (#1) and captured 147 land.<br/>
2024-02-15 22:48:53	Michelangelo (#6) invaded Learn how to swim Build more docks (#5) and captured 174 land.<br/>
2024-02-16 01:47:11	Jerry 🐭 (#13) invaded 🍈Taylor Swift Patron Saint of the Swif-Titties🍈 (#1) and captured 165 land.<br/>
2024-02-16 18:03:39	You make my heart saur! ❤️ (#11) has CANCELED war against It's Tricky... Tr-tr-tr-tricky (Tricky) Trrrrrrrrrrricky (#13).<br/>
2024-02-17 15:59:57	Shes beautiful,rich,shes got huge.. tracts of land (#4) invaded Earn more money 💰 Plunder more plat 🪙 (#5) and captured 199 land.<br/>
2024-02-17 16:44:27	Victorious on the battlefield, I'm the Zby, gotta love me (#11) conquered 283 land from Shes beautiful,rich,shes got huge.. tracts of land (#4).<br/>
2024-02-17 18:56:43	Johnny Bravo (#8) invaded fellow dominion I'm the Zby, gotta love me (#11) and captured 280 land.<br/>
2024-02-17 19:01:37	BiggD Smalls (#10) invaded Johnny Bravo (#8) and captured 260 land.<br/>
2024-02-17 19:02:09	Michelangelo (#6) invaded Johnny Bravo (#8) and captured 232 land.<br/>
2024-02-17 19:02:36	Tucock Shakur (#10) invaded Johnny Bravo (#8) and captured 227 land.<br/>
2024-02-17 19:03:11	Start working out 🏋️‍♂️ Gain some Rio ranks 📈 (#5) invaded Johnny Bravo (#8) and captured 192 land.<br/>
2024-02-17 19:05:27	Exec power derives from a mandate from the masses (#4) invaded Johnny Bravo (#8) and captured 177 land.<br/>
2024-02-18 00:59:38	Jerry 🐭 (#13) invaded BiggD Smalls (#10) and captured 254 land.<br/>
2024-02-18 01:47:54	Shes beautiful,rich,shes got huge.. tracts of land (#4) invaded fellow dominion Night of the Living Shred (#11) and captured 93 land.<br/>
2024-02-18 04:58:02	Cheshire Cat (#13) invaded Start working out 🏋️‍♂️ Gain some Rio ranks 📈 (#5) and captured 246 land.<br/>
2024-02-18 05:20:32	Victorious on the battlefield, Velocisapper (#11) conquered 241 land from Start working out 🏋️‍♂️ Gain some Rio ranks 📈 (#5).<br/>
2024-02-18 05:57:12	Victorious on the battlefield, Paulie 'Walnuts' Pliosaurus (#11) conquered 217 land from BiggD Smalls (#10).<br/>
2024-02-18 05:59:38	Victorious on the battlefield, Weekend at Bernie'Saurus-Rex (#11) conquered 202 land from BiggD Smalls (#10).<br/>
2024-02-18 15:03:58	Cheshire Cat (#13) invaded Eyes are Orange (#9) and captured 174 land.<br/>
2024-02-18 22:00:42	Michelangelo (#6) invaded Tuesdayspecial (#0) and captured 195 land.<br/>
</blockquote>

== Days 37-41: The Big Sit ==

Lud and I kept training ridiculous amounts of 5:4 offense to keep Cheshire [mdk] down. It started to go days long. #13 eventually declared war on us to sink Lud. We fireballed Cheshire again and snared him to see if we could keep him from casting all his beneficial spells. They then started a lightning campaign on mcgeeal. Eventually, Jerry [mris] was able to hit AgFx who accidentally grew into range underdefended. We again let Jerry get away with it since we were not nearly as afraid of a DE as a nomad. Cheshire started dumping massive mods and specs here and there. We thought for sure he was going to send a few times, eat the sui, and carry on with life- but he didn’t. They took the Outpost and then we started cycloning it back. Our dead attackers can barely send out and Lud and I cannot afford to waste any 5:4 offense. As the war was nearing its end, we realized Bobbo had fallen behind on his defense and was hittable. We thought for sure #13 would hit him with 10 hours left on war, then hit him again in 9hrs as the bonus fell off. But again, he didn’t. In the final hour of the war, Bobbo was running surreal and released all his wizards, seemingly saving himself from the hit. Cheshire finally sent on #7 and Lud sui’d him from shitty airplane WiFi. #6 was of course first in… again, then Jerry. I was a few thousand short of being able to sui Jerry. Could be why he didn’t go first. #2 icer [Weaser] sent light on Lud and Harm got a nice retal hit. Cheshire then 9hr’d him as well. After the bloodbath, Cheshire was still about 2700a away from where we projected mcgeeal to finish, having sat for 5 days and eaten the suicide.

<blockquote>
2024-02-20 15:12:48	It's Tricky... Tr-tr-tr-tricky (Tricky) Trrrrrrrrrrricky (#13) has declared WAR on You make my heart saur! ❤️ (#11).<br/>
2024-02-21 00:57:43	Jerry 🐭 (#13) invaded fellow dominion Worchestershaurus (#11) and captured 199 land.<br/>
2024-02-22 00:24:01	The Wayfarer's Outpost has been destroyed and rebuilt by It's Tricky... Tr-tr-tr-tricky (Tricky) Trrrrrrrrrrricky (#13).<br/>
2024-02-22 15:03:59	It's Tricky... Tr-tr-tr-tricky (Tricky) Trrrrrrrrrrricky (#13) has CANCELED war against You make my heart saur! ❤️ (#11).<br/>
2024-02-23 04:18:11	Cheshire Cat (#13) invaded Silly Sigge (#7) and captured 234 land.<br/>
2024-02-23 05:27:46	Victorious on the battlefield, I'm the Zby, gotta love me (#11) conquered 372 land from Cheshire Cat (#13).<br/>
2024-02-23 05:30:32	Michelangelo (#6) invaded fellow dominion I'm the Zby, gotta love me (#11) and captured 278 land.<br/>
2024-02-23 05:31:51	Jerry 🐭 (#13) invaded fellow dominion I'm the Zby, gotta love me (#11) and captured 239 land.<br/>
2024-02-23 05:32:12	Shes beautiful,rich,shes got huge.. tracts of land (#4) invaded fellow dominion I'm the Zby, gotta love me (#11) and captured 242 land.<br/>
2024-02-23 05:35:25	Exec power derives from a mandate from the masses (#4) invaded fellow dominion I'm the Zby, gotta love me (#11) and captured 217 land.<br/>
2024-02-23 05:40:22	Miss Calculated (#2) invaded fellow dominion I'm the Zby, gotta love me (#11) and captured 197 land.<br/>
2024-02-23 05:49:24	Victorious on the battlefield, Velocisapper (#11) conquered 312 land from Miss Calculated (#2).<br/>
2024-02-23 05:55:11	Usagi Yojimbo (#6) invaded fellow dominion I'm the Zby, gotta love me (#11) and captured 197 land.<br/>
2024-02-23 13:08:17	Cheshire Cat (#13) invaded Miss Calculated (#2) and captured 265 land.<br/>
</blockquote>

== Days 42-47: Race to the Finish ==

Now we’re just trying to wait out the clock. #6 and #13 are pretty much the only realms capable of leapfrogging mcgeeal. Jerry [mris] sent again, and again I pass on suiciding. He’s still hovering around 33k peasants and I don’t think he can pull it off. Then BOOM, #6 WE [Faith] goes off on him and #6 icer [Neophyte] spec drops him for the double. Ouch. Cheshire [mdk] follows that with a hit into a 9hr BF.

<blockquote>
2024-02-24 21:59:46	Jerry 🐭 (#13) invaded Is This a Girl Thing? (#7) and captured 235 land.<br/>
2024-02-25 01:30:12	Splinter (#6) invaded Jerry 🐭 (#13) and captured 426 land.<br/>
2024-02-25 06:59:26	Michelangelo (#6) invaded Jerry 🐭 (#13) and captured 346 land.<br/>
2024-02-25 07:07:55	Cheshire Cat (#13) invaded To not get drunk at Disneyland🍺 (#3) and captured 293 land.<br/>
2024-02-25 16:01:18	Cheshire Cat (#13) invaded Silly Sigge (#7) and captured 177 land.<br/>
2024-02-25 16:04:17	Shes beautiful,rich,shes got huge.. tracts of land (#4) invaded Silly Sigge (#7) and captured 207 land.<br/>
</blockquote>

After the dust settles, they’re both still approximately 1700a short. Jerry is mostly out of the game, but #6 WE [Faith] wields power overwhelming. We have mcgeeal pumping lots of DP to fend off all of their suis. The icer is still around 40k peasants and his OP took a huge hit losing his GN% and wizard ratio. Cheshire ends up on like 65k peasants and starts dumping specs left and right. Both were already near GN cap, so there’s very little they can do with a surprise mod drop. Cheshire finally builds a ton of temples and looks to be gearing up to send. Then, they war #6 and start sinking the WE. A few hours later, #6 goes mutual. This could either be amazing for us if they stalemate, or terrible if they decided to trade hits all the way to the top. OPs are rising to 460-530k. I still have a sui card in my back pocket (capable of hitting ~530k DP) and Harm has 500k+ without rokkas, preventing either contender from sending a full 5:4 without getting hammered.

<blockquote>
2024-02-27 16:55:14	It's Tricky... Tr-tr-tr-tricky (Tricky) Trrrrrrrrrrricky (#13) has declared WAR on Turtle Power! (#6).<br/>
2024-02-27 18:59:29	Turtle Power! (#6) has declared WAR on It's Tricky... Tr-tr-tr-tricky (Tricky) Trrrrrrrrrrricky (#13).<br/>
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We were then just waiting out the clock. The last chance for icer to hit 3x and nomad 4x came and went. Cheshire had been snooping on mcgeeal and his 5:4 was really quite close on him. We were worried Jerry might try to raze for a sui hit to deny us the win. Earlier, we were thinking about snaring Cheshire when he went for a 9hr, but he’s suddenly back in EG, taking our numbers in range from 9 to 6, but he can’t even BF anymore which is awful for him. War also could get mcgeeal LB’d, so would be an epic fail if he got spells up. Then I noticed he barely had enough mana to cast both OP and DP spells (59k/54k). So we just robbed him blind (down to 22k). Now he can’t cast Favorable Terrain for a while and mcgeeal is safe from suicides and suicide razes. I'd like to think that this play saved the win, but who knows. A few hours later, Cheshire was able to magically steal a ton of mana and get both spells on, but mcgeeal had gotten a little DP in by then. It was still very close with a raze for a few hours. It would come down to draftees, so mcgeeal is investing and watching surreal to release just in case. Loki #13 [King Jota] ended up assassinating about 1000 draftees, but it wasn’t enough and mcgeeal had the fortitude to keep from releasing when it wasn't needed.

Nobody ended up sending… ever, except for Lud who suicided a random guy in #5 for some reason, adding a level of excitement to the final day. Mcgeeal takes the win (first time ever that a non-packed player has done so). I’m really glad that it didn’t all go to waste. We had a really amazing realm and everyone contributed. Props to mdk and neophyte (and their realms) for playing fantastic rounds as well.