SNN 2023 Holiday Special

HO - HO - HOLD ON TO YOUR CLOSEST REINDEER FRIEND! WE'RE ABOUT TO TAKE OFF!

Whether you're celebrating a holiday today, celebrated a holiday yesterday because this somehow released too late, have or will celebrate a holiday some days before or after today, aren't celebrating a holiday but are stuck in a game full of people who are, or your days all blur together in your endless pursuit to steal kidneys, it seemed the best thing to do would be to copy what every other flailing franchise does and release a holiday special. After unabashedly stealing the idea for a Christmas based release from Jex Roselin, I thought to myself "self, why does the sun appear to be yellow when all light is more of a colorless white?", but then these important thoughts were interrupted by Jex's friends complaining about how all of the SNN releases are too history based and not current enough. Where is the conflict? Where is the drama?

"Aha!" I didn't actually proclaim. What better way to enjoy the holidays than people insulting or being oddly overly positive about one another? What a great chance to involve players we haven't already heard from and make sure everything is as "current" as possible! It will be a logistical nightmare unlike anything attempted before! So I set about trying to invoke the good will of representatives from six different alliances, specifically the top six on the leader board, to get them to comment on the other alliances and their representatives.

The combined total work on this project was enormous and I want to give a very sincere thank you to those who put aside their real life time to do the work for this properly (epic/mad) idea. Whether the comments were short or long, it still involved spending a lot of time thinking about what to write, chatting with allies for their thoughts, doing the actual writing, and then getting it all in within a few week time frame. But that's not all! After finishing all of that, there was a second part where each person took additional time to respond to everyone else's comments about them/their alliance! While the project is currently only 91.67% done (with many crossing their fingers for that miraculous 100% mark), the goal was to start the releases on or very close to Christmas and that is exactly what we're doing!

So, with minimal further spidey rambles (we all know there is enough of that in the history topic), here are our contributors:

Deadmau5 (ASSASSIN)

Ice (CHIMERA)

Jotunn (FGR)

Shalimar (FTN)

AMOTION (JeB)

Basil aka -Arcane- / King Rabbit (MUPPETS)***

***Due to time constraint issues, Arcane made the initial comments on other players/alliances while King Rabbit received the comments from others and wrote up the responses. In hindsight, I should have made this an option for everyone from the start, but live and learn.

SCHEDULE: The releases won't be in the order shown, as will be very evident soon, and the plan is to stagger releases up until New Year's Eve. Whether that will involve double releases each time or single releases after this special double release (or some combination of the two) is still up in the air. The main point is that everything that exists will drop within that time period. I'll also be taking a brief break myself so don't get too concerned if you have to wait a few days for the next player comments to drop

So, who will we be hearing from first? The unlikely duo of our newest top ten crash holder AMOTION (of JeB) and mining extraordinaire Shalimar (of FTN)!

Quote

THE AMOTION / JeB PANEL

Comments

From Deadmau5 (ASSASSIN)

Amotion is a good fleeter in my opinion and seems like a nice guy. He always seems to do nice damage and find good profitable hits. MMO shows good damage numbers pretty much daily and the posts he's made on the board always show tasty profit numbers. Amotion reminds me of a player I played with years ago called Thanos, seemed to always strike gold wherever he was probing around for the day.

JeB alliance seem like an ok alliance from the handful of players I've spoken with over the years. Mostly miners that seem to keep to themselves with some fleeters who like to do damage. I know at least one of the old ASSASSIN members was in JeB before he joined us and I played with him in another uni before he joined ASSASSIN. I think the only person I ever had anything bad to say about was Ghostwolf due to his cocky attitude on the board

From Jotunn (FGR)

JeB is truly one of the most confusing alliances in Universe 1, with no true allegiance to any one side. Some members with complex MCS and a hive for staff members, some of whom hide under hidden aliases (never a fan of this personally). JeB once upon a time may have been a great alliance but in very recent history is a cess pit filled with betrayal, poor leadership and dinosaurs begging for relevance in this dying game. JeB as an alliance has no backbone, the leadership bend over to whomever is currently their strongest adversary and will ally with their enemies despite those same enemies crashing their own members and forcing them into unfair trades. FGR understand that the individual members of this alliance are not to blame for this and are led into poor situations by terrible leadership. JeB has allied with Assassins and, as such, will forever be seen in the same light.

Amotion is JeB's best fleeter, arguably their only true fleeter. He has earned the respect of his adversaries by being a coordinated and lethal threat. FGR do not see eye to eye with Amotion for many reasons and I cannot now see this ever changing.

From Shalimar (FTN)

Ahhh JeB. This alliance has a rich history of being the oldest alliance in .org. That being said, I have been extremely disappointed in how little JeB has done, and how little internal cohesion they seem to have. From what I can tell half of JeB trades to ASSASSIN and half of JeB hates ASSASSIN. JeB seems like an alliance that is in its dying state, but just won't let go.

AMOTION is the player that has come the closest to crashing my main fleet (its just LC, don't get excited) the most times. AMO has a dedication to his hunting that I respect. I have not interacted with AMO much beyond the "maybe next time" message as I move my LC while he is about 10 min out. I have found him to be quite reasonable.

From Ice (CHIMERA)

AMOTION is one of the long time players who has ties with quite a few people in the universe. I haven't had any interactions with him so it's hard for me to say anything of note. You definitely see him make hits, and hear of him trying things out fleeting-wise, so I can say I enjoy his playstyle; it's rare to see active fleeters nowadays.

You hear a lot of good from him and he seems like a great sportsman, but if anything I would highly question his judgement in regards to reading other people. I don't know who in their right mind would ever think Ghostwolf would make anything near a half suitable player to hold even a semi-relevant account, and because of that mind boggling blunder, AMOTION loses a point. Couple that with a few questionable ties casting doubt over his ability to read other personalities and he gets 3.5 out of 5 for being a solid fleeter regardless.

From Basil/Arcane (MUPPETS)

I don't dislike Amo, but I think he's a rat. Funding Cimbi, snitching hits, trying to stay off the radar of the politics but actually probably being quite heavily involved. JeB to me is this massive flip-flop - ARE WE HATING ASSASSINS THIS YEAR?! Mars is a lunatic. Lord4200 packs is a joke, messaging me after the TC hit celebrating, now literally taking their money and fueling Assassins like there is no tomorrow. I would say I'm shocked, but he is just a user, like he used coffy, and he's now using Assassins. The plan will become clear soon for whatever it is he's trying to achieve aside from mediocrity and hypocrisy.

Responses

To Deadmau5 (ASSASSIN)

Well, sounds like Deadmau5 and I are on the same page.

To Jotunn (FGR)

I am not quite sure what to say regarding JeB alliance members; we have many members who have been playing this game for a very long time, and as such many of us have friendships all over the board in this uni. I have had, for a long time, friends in ASSASSIN, friends in FGR, friends in FTN. Many of us do, and as such we have tried to stay out of politics as much as possible. It has been very recently that we decided we needed to pick a side, and we talked about that as an alliance, and made a decision as an alliance. Frankly, we had gotten very tired of us being accused of being an extension of ASSASSIN over the last few years.

I am a bit confused regarding this accusation that we are a hive for staff members playing under hidden aliases; I was under the impression that Jotunn is also the BA Cillidan. Obviously, I have been misinformed. I do think it is a little strange for a BA posting hits for another player, I don’t think I have ever seen that happen before. But I digress; clearly there are no staff members in FGR playing under different names than their board name.

Also, I was not familiar with this MCS and had to research it, and it apparently is described as “Multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS), also known as idiopathic environmental intolerance, which has been described as a chronic acquired disorder characterized by nonspecific symptoms in multiple organ systems and is associated with exposure to low-level chemicals.” I must say I was unaware that any of our members were being afflicted by this illness; I will be asking our members to figure out who has been diagnosed and will be seeing what the alliance can do to help.

To Shalimar (FTN)

I will admit, we went through a rough patch. But we are out of that rough patch, and I think we are coming out stronger than ever. I am looking forward to what JeB is going to do in this next year.

PS half of JeB couldn’t be trading to ASSASSIN, they are too busy with their deut fueling my fleet

Ice (CHIMERA)

Sounds like Ice and I are on the same page, I respect his play style. And while FGR and MUPPETS don’t seem to get it, he does- when one has been playing this long you are going to have ties with folks all across the universe.

All I have to say with Ghostwolf is it was an alliance decision.

To Basil aka Arcane (MUPPETS)

Regarding Cimbi, I gotta ask, if somebody gives you a top 10 account, and then turns around a bit later and asked for a moonshot, would you not give it to them? He hasn’t asked me for a single bit of res to fund this rampage he is having; maybe I should offer.

I assume this whole “snitching hits” bit is regarding Flawless, and I gotta ask, if you found a fleet sitting but didn’t have enough deut to launch, but a friend is around the corner who has deut down and the fleet to take the target, who will give you HALF the profit, would you not pass them the hit?

I have been repeatedly hearing that we are “flip floppers” etc lately. We tried very hard to keep out of the politics of this uni. Yet we have been accused of being an extension of ASSASSIN for years, and we finally decided, why not? This alliance has been done in recent months, not years. And so far, it is going great. It is almost like we’re trying to act that MUPPETS/FGR/FTN don’t have pack accounts.

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THE SHALIMAR / FTN PANEL

Comments

From Deadmau5 (ASSASSIN)

I don't know anything about Shalimar, not really paid attention to FTN much to be honest. FTN just seem like FGR's version of BTMI, sister ally that provide deut to the fleeters. Sagacious seems very friendly and never has anything bad to say about anyone but other than that I haven't spoken to anyone in the ally.

From Jotunn (FGR)

Everyone knows FGR's relationship with FTN and how close we are. FTN really just feels like an extension of FGR in many ways, the most important being in friendships. Some amazing friendships have blossomed through the alliance between us and this alliance I think has been one of the greater decisions I made in my early days of leading FGR diplomacy. The relationship started before FTN founding when I met Jex. Jex and I started a personal trading agreement which grew and grew alongside his ambition which turned into what it looks like today. We have gone through some good and bad times with FTN but we wouldn't change that and our alliances have only grown stronger and closer.

While FTN is not perfect in my eyes and they run things differently to how we would in FGR, this does not make them any less effective and perhaps is the reason they are the #2 alliance in ranking and we very much value their alliance. FTN being the more 'friendly' and 'open' alliance in comparison to FGR, with a less fleeting focus and more mining focus, allowed members to be recruited that in FGR would not have happened. In some cases this has been very beneficial allowing us to recruit and see some talent we otherwise may have missed.

Shalimar, I don't know how to put across how valuable this player is. High intelligence, great game knowledge, huge miner, loyal character. Shalimar is the perfect member for an alliance like FTN that you could ask for. FGR, and myself on a personal level, values Shalimar and holds him in a very high regard. Would FGR think twice about recruiting him if he did not belong to FTN? Not a chance.

From AMOTION (JeB)

I honestly can’t say that I have ever paid much attention to Shalimar; until I spotted their resource fleet, that is. I can’t say that I have managed to make much of an impression of them as a player other than the fact that I haven’t managed to crash them yet, which is more than I can say about many. I hope to change that sooner rather than later.

FTN has to be one of my favorite alliances- they have been the victims of some of my largest and most profitable hits. On the flip side I have had several friends in FTN throughout the years, just like most of the major alliances. FTN always seemed laid back and not involved with game politics much at all until Coffy joined and started doing his thing.

From Ice (CHIMERA)

This one will be short because I honestly know almost nothing of him. Seems like a laid-back miner who goes about his business. He did seem like a normal person from the little I've seen of him on Discord, and, a rarity in Universe 1, he didn't start crying like a nerd when I probed him so for that, he gets a big nice 4 out of 5, why not?

From Basil/Arcane (MUPPETS)

Shalimar, no idea who they are but I immediately think of the ritual scene from Indiana Jones Temple of Doom ("Cali - Marrrr") This all I have to say. To me FTN is basically Coffy + Coffy + 170 other people who sell deut to coffy so coffy can sell himself as a large coffee. And Nick, who definitely never leaves his fleet but (and to quote) "slev will call me if I do, but I never do" ...yeah those reapers tell a different story don't they.. Jex is a smart cookie though. Muppets have no standing relationship with FTN despite the FGR/FTN relationship but we don't actively hunt them also because of this.

Responses

To Deadmau5 (ASSASSIN)

Glad to see I've kept a low profile! Never really interacted with Deadmau5.

To Jotunn (FGR)

The FTN/FGR friendship/alliance is the reason I keep playing, what a great team. Supporting FGR has been an absolute delight and fully satisfies my desire to trade big. Can't say enough good things about Jotunn and FGR.

To AMOTION (JeB)

I hope to keep playing our game of cat and mouse where the mouse does not get caught. Nobody has come closer than you in a long time though. I have a lot of respect for AMOTION.

To Ice (CHIMERA):

Pretty nice comment and very accurate to my personality. Always have fully acknowledged that it's a war game. Wouldn't be fun to be a miner without fleeters threatening me.

To Basil aka Arcane (MUPPETS):

Love Indiana Jones, had never thought of that before. I. Love. Arcanes description of FTN. It is completely wrong though. What would Coffy do with deut?

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Good to see some extracurricular banter playing out here and, Shepherd, thank you for the feedback! You've been one of the few to actively show your support from the start and that has helped make me aware there is an audience for all of this. Also, your flattery will get you everywhere

The next part of this journey brings us another interesting pair, this time with two opposing fleeting threats in King Rabbit (of MUPPETS) and Deadmau5 (of ASSASSIN) responding to (or tactically not responding to) both admirers and detractors alike.

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THE KING RABBIT (MUPPETS) PANEL

Comments

From Jotunn (FGR)

Without going into lots of boring detail most won't care for, the FGR/Muppets relationship, despite what people think, started before their merge into Universe 1 and actually way before Muppets had even considered joining Universe 1 via a merge. Ocelot and myself had a few encounters with Muppets playing mining accounts for them in another universe, initially this built a basic rapport which only grew over the years as the rest of FGR were slowly introduced and everyday discussions became common place. It is hard not to like Muppets as a group if you know them on a personal level, there are some great personalities, most obvious I suppose being the king Muppet himself Arcane. I and FGR as a whole have nothing too negative to say about Muppets and if anything have things to thank them for.

Despite what some of the universe seem to believe, FGR is a small alliance these days in active member count with few active out of vmode players and even fewer fleets, some of our best players have slowly been lost to time over the years and along with that our capabilities to some degree. Muppets filled a void, with Chimera joining and other monster fleets arriving gave the universe balance we needed in collective knowledge and fleet numbers.

King Rabbit as the Muppets representative is a great choice. Until King Rabbit's recent return to the game admittedly he was unknown to me and I believe to most others in FGR, he quickly proved himself a skillful fleeter and a great addition to our collaborative alliance. KR currently still holds 2 massive solo top 10's and, when he returns again actively, I do not doubt we will see more on the horizon. There is nothing bad to say about KR from an FGR PoV and we look forward to future collaboration.

From Ice (CHIMERA)

Well, what can I say that hasn't already been said? Lord Rabid himself is not a bad dude. The issue for him is, along with his acolyte Arsecane, they are both the poster childs of exactly what is wrong with modern OGame. They are fleeters of decent capabilities (unlike the other sad excuses of fleeters holding their alliance tag), propped up to monstrous heights solely through the power of wallet.

He has essentially bought himself into a position where he cannot be hit unless he somehow falls asleep with his fleet unsaved in a location where 9-10trn fleet at least can attack him. Endless deut supply through packs, artificially inflated fleet, relocations galore - the classic wallet warrior. I'll give him one thing, at least he has hits to show for it, so it's not like he's been spending for nothing. He got exactly what he paid for, which makes him one of those rare satisfied Gameforge customers that you cannot help but hate.

Seeing players like him go on a tear in this Universe is just the perfect metaphor for what has happened to this game; even the most ancient and sacred of unis has now been forsaken by him and his bunch and they have initiated a game which has no end and in which others have now embarked as well. U1 had managed to remain balanced for a long time, but this becomes less and less true at every DM sale event. KR himself has already agreed with pretty much all I've stated anyway, so it's not like any of this will spark a debate.

At least he has redeeming qualities, for instance his capacity to endure verbal and IPM abuse without ever firing back. His poker face is commendable. I just wish he hadn't left our Discord, those were fun times. Our favorite rodent gets 2.5 out of 5 because he didn't invent DM himself after all, did he?

From Deadmau5 (ASSASSIN)

King Rabbit, I haven't really spoken with, maybe sent the odd message to each other but I'm not sure Was an acct that graveyarded and merged here and then paid up the ranks and is in v mode most of the time. MUPPETS alliance all merged here and the ones that came out of V that were lower ranked were pulled/paid their way up and v moded. Basil made some nice profit on an ASSASSIN member and has a very nice fleet.

From Shalimar (FTN)

The MUPPETS seem to be a good group of people. I've liked the members I've spoken to. I really wasn't sure if they were doing much in the uni for awhile, then one day Arcane decides to hit TC and an absolutely beautiful CR was born. I've watched them a bit closer since then. I've been happy to see them do some good hits and make an impact on the uni.

King Rabbit is one of my favorite Muppets. Honorable, but also a bit spicy. I did ask him for his account when/if he retires, but only to satisfy my unending thirst for honor points. I'm always happy to see a KR hit on the boards.

From AMOTION (JeB)

I have liked King Rabbit so far, we have had a couple of great conversations and he has been excellent competition so far. He has made several impressive hits, and it has been fun to see the ones he has posted so far. He did crash the fleet that I worked very hard on for years to build, but I can’t blame him, I would have crashed it too.

As far as MUPPETS as an alliance, I really haven’t had many interactions with them so far. The main interaction I have had with them was when I passed the hit on Flawless to Pirate Andy; I don’t think that they have been my biggest fans since then. So far they have been great competition.

Responses

To Jotunn (FGR)

The relationship between FGR and Muppets is a good relationship. While I came in later, I have found the players to be excellent communicators and a great bunch of players I can call my teammates. While we have some big fleets between our alliances, there is a small number of us who fleet on the regular recently, however we do have good teamwork and work well together. A solid group of players who I would call my friends. Slevs is the mastermind of FGR. He knows everything about the universe and the game. He is the mastermind behind most things and I'm pleased he's on my side of the universe.

I'll address the unknown part with a little history and my first interaction with Cillidan. I returned to the game after many years absent from the game. I logged in to find my account still in tact. Once was a top 30 account back in u30 from when I played previously. I looked at options to merge and looked through MMO and saw some names I recognised from my previous playing days. 1x speed did put me off slightly as I always came from speed uni's previously. However U1 had names I recognised and the highest active player base so alas I merged. This turned out to be the best decision I made to return. I looked up the old names and luck was on my side, they were all in one alliance Muppets. I requested to join and after some internal discussions and jogging some memories, I was let in with open arms.

I made a few hits on some players higher ranked than me and Arcane came along and offered me his old account. This was a ripper account in the main however I did build a speed fleet on it. This is my favourite account I have played so far. Shortly after this Arcane tried to give me a speed fleet as I was a speed fleeter in the main, I never used the rips lol and this did seem to give me the name of account jumper etc. I am, however, very happy on the account I am now which I have grown well through packs and profit.

As for my first interaction with Cillidan I was on my account I merged over, I was hunting around and probing anyone, when Cillidan popped up in our discord asking why I was probing him. I was unaware of the alliance we had at the time. I was also hunting another guy in FTN at the time and mobiled (again I was unaware of the FTN and FGR partnership), and Cillidan thought it would be funny to mobile in with me. We had some fun back and forth for a while before we eventually gained a great partnership. Cillidan is a down to earth chap, he plays the game as it should be played in the main for profit and nothing is too much for him. I don't really understand why he gets so much hate externally as to me he's been nothing but respectful and plays the game well.

To Ice (CHIMERA)

I have had plenty of interactions with Ice in-game, and through their discord chat, before I left. I don't even remember the reason I left, however overall I enjoy chatting with people of similar interests and at times did enjoy the chat with multiple players from multiple alliances. That in itself comes with many challenges and players of different views which makes for a lot of hypocrisy within. Ice is a fierce advocate of being against spending on the game, especially in packs, and I commend him for not buckling and following suit of others. He has stood his ground on this one since I first interacted with him, and I see he is still continuing to do so. Only issue is while he is doing so his alliance leader is packing harder than most I'm sure.

I don't think it comes as any surprise to anyone that I have packed a good portion of my fleet. I hold my hands up to that and followed suit of many others, I just took it a bit further than some others I guess. The difference is, I do use my fleet when I am active and I made plenty of hits with my fleet including 3 top 10 solos, one of which on a Chimera player and 4/5 other Hyper advances. It's not like I just rocked up and hit most of them on probe and go either. I put in a fair amount of work with these hits. So while I did invest in the account, I certainly invested time and effort into tracking my opponents and making these hits too.

Ice would be right, I don't disagree with his comments in the main and I agree that DM usage, mainly in packs, does not make for a good game. I know hypocrisy at its finest from me here. One thing for sure however is, it does keep players in the game and that is good for the future of OGame. Some players invest so much into their account they don't want to leave what they have invested, some use it to rebuild.

As for Chimera as a whole, other than Ice not much happens that can be seen from the outside. Ice is a good fleeter and makes some good hits. It was a shame to see Blue Fear leave as I got on rather well with him, and respected him, while knowing if he could he would crash me in an instant. However, his account is in good hands with Ice I'm sure.

To Deadmau5 (ASSASSIN)

I have only had a few interactions with Deadmau himself, though in the limited messages I did find him to be the diamond in the rough so to speak. Deadmau was very friendly and easy going to chat too. The same can be said for Flibble within Assassins who also comes across very well and friendly. I will say, however, I was very active for the first 8 months of this year and spent the majority of my time out of V mode and making plenty of hits within the universe. The later part of this year has been a struggle to find time to play with my real life taking priority however I do hope that this will change in the new year.

GKP and TC are clearly a thorn in many peoples sides within this universe and they do so in many ways. Some for profit, and some not for profit. It's their playstyle and how they want to play and that's up to them. While this is not my personal preference of how I play, each to their own I guess, though some of the posts on the forum would suggest that this is detrimental to the future success and longevity of Uni 1 lower level players. Then again, seeing as Uni 1 will always be a target uni for mergers I guess this is not the most pressing issue for them. We all play the game for fun after all. This has resulted in a fair few rips lost this year but I'm sure its been no major loss to them with how packs are these days (yes I'm one to talk :P)

To Shalimar (FTN)

FTN and myself have a little history, which at times could of caused some issues between FGR and Muppets. I've always been of the view that just because they have an alliance it doesn't give them a free pass from us, especially when they had a lot of members for a good period. I did actively hunt a fair few of them for a good period of my early days when I joined. I have made a fair few hits on FTN players. That said, I don't really actively hunt them any longer due to the lack of fleets within FTN.

Shalimar and I have had some good interactions and he keeps track of my Honor points so it seems. When I was actively making a lot of hits back to back he knew more than I did what honor I had gained or lost lol. It was quite amusing to receive messages periodically with updates. Shalimar is one of the good folks of FTN and the game.

To AMOTION (JeB)

I've spoken with Amotion many times since arriving. Amo is one of them players who was always punching above his weight and I always thought needed a bigger fleeting account. I'm happy to see him on a bigger account and with a fleet that he deserved. I presume he is lacking time himself too recently, as I've not seen much from him since he got the bigger account. He has always been a worthy opponent. That said, Top 10 crashing his old account was one of the most satisfactory hits I've made due to the fact that he was always at our hive on his old account and we didn't send one IPM or bad DM to him. The second I moved to the hive of his old account I was welcomed with insults in DM's and IPMs. Not from Amotion though I will add. This made that hit all the more satisfactory to make.

As for JeB, one minute they hate Assassins and are nuking them for months on end (GhettoGhosts words), the next they are selling them res and giving them hits. It's a confusing one on that front. We have had some animosity with JeB in recent months with nukes flying around left right and centre, along with bashing of turtles and crashing of fleets. It's been an interesting period of the game for sure. There have been plenty of accusations thrown around from both sides and in all honesty I'm lost on what the truth is on many fronts with all of this.

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THE DEADMAU5 (ASSASSIN) PANEL

Comments

From Jotunn (FGR)

If you're part of Universe 1 in the last 5 or so years and do not know the relationship between FGR and ASSASSIN then I would assume you are blind and deaf. I would say our alliances rivalry may go down in the books as one of the greatest in OGame history. Until recent times with res packages ruining the game as we know it, FGR and ASSASSIN had one of the most exciting rivalries of any warring factions in the modern game.

Historically FGR have always been at a huge disadvantage to ASSASSIN in fleet size disparity, this required a massive team effort to even take down 1 ASSASSIN as it would mean months of planning and require 4/5 top fleets or external help from our great allies, like BAAL, who have played vital roles in helping us against ASSASSIN. The balance has equaled and recent events have shown ASSASSIN are upset by this. It would feel wrong to not mention the importance of BAAL, FTN and more recently Muppets have played in helping us create a balanced rivalry with ASSASSIN that is well fueled. Despite our many.. many differences, FGR does have a respect for ASSASSIN above all else. We recognise their capability and their audacity to launch anywhere anytime makes them an undeniable threat to the universe, despite some of these ending in failure. As GKP would likely say there is no profit without taking some risk.

Unlike JeB who have no idea who they truly are or what they believe in, ASSASSIN's know who they, their goals and what they stand for. FGR do not agree with what ASSASSIN stands for, farming new players, pushing people purposefully into vacation mode or even quitting just for the sake of it is not the game we play nor wish to have. In recent times people in this universe sometimes forget FGR became what it did as a counter faction to these beliefs. Those who know me as player know my true goal in this game since my return, there is an old CR from a few years back, each of those players involved have a target on their back, so far 4 out of 5 of those players have been dealt a blow whether that be full fleet destruction or ban either by my hand, through my politics or my alliance. There is 1 more target to go and it will come.

Deadmau5 I do not have much to say about, he is not like his team mates in some ways from how it looks on the outside. We do not know each other very well and have had minimal contact, the few conversations we have had have mostly been short yet respectable. We think as a group perhaps he may live in the past and does have a rather big ego considering the little achieved in recent times, he likes to troll active fleeters that interact with his account despite the minimal threat he poses in the modern game. His loyalty or belief in his team has come into question a few times when he supposedly disagreed with some issues regarding auto refresh tools used by some people, it appears he has looked past that now and is comfortably back at home... for now.

From Shalimar (FTN)

ASSASSIN. The bad guys plain and simple. Members banned from the board, a deep rooted well earned reputation for making life hell for those that oppose them. Definitely the (worse) bad guys. What would the universe be without a good villain? To be perfectly honest, their dedication to nuking and raiding for profits of like 20 metal blows my mind, too much work in my opinion. I'm not sure if ASSASSIN doesn't post their hits to save enough time for their 20 metal profit hits, but I personally would like to see more from them on the boards.

Deadmau5, I don't love the 5 instead of an S, but that's just personal preference. As for OGame, the account looks very nicely balanced; enough military to dish out some pain, and the eco to build oh so many IPMs. I haven't actually had any interactions with Deadmau5, and would be perfectly happy to keep it that way fleet wise. I'm always happy to meet new people though.

From AMOTION (JeB)

Deadmau5 is a player that I hadn’t gotten to know well until recently, and I have enjoyed doing so. I definitely noticed him a long time ago; it is hard to ignore that mouse mask. He has also been great to work with so far. He can correct me if I’m wrong, but I met him a long time ago and traded him deut in an old universe, I believe Capella, when I was giving it a shot playing as a miner (obviously that didn’t last long).

As far as ASSASSIN as an alliance, I have only been working with them for a couple of months, and they have been excellent to work with. So far they have been some of the best and smartest fleeters I have worked with; I have been playing this game as a fleeter for two decades and they have already taught me a couple of tricks with the game that I had never figured out before. They have also been an extremely supportive group; I have been having some serious health issues this year, and they have been more supportive than most of my RL friends and family (which has been a theme throughout my years in this game, OGame friends have always been more supportive). Like I said, I have only been working with them for a couple of months, and I am looking forward to seeing where this goes.

From Ice (CHIMERA)

To quote the words of a wise man "What the heck will he have to say??" Just another of those flavorless, invisible account holders going through the motions, hanging on to the teat for dear life. To be honest, I hadn't realized until recently that he was back in Assassin land. I thought mister had taken a principled stand and left the cult when one of his leaders got caught red handed automating things he shouldn't have been, but I guess he's one of those that can be sweet talked into almost anything.

Time heals, I guess.

Nevermind the permanent vacation on his other buddy just a while later. Ass land ain't a place you can afford to have principles, and the cold void of solo play is scary, isn't it? Deadmau5 doesn't get a rating out of 5 because what is there to rate?

From Basil/Arcane (MUPPETS)

Having spoken to Dr Mau5 a few times, he's one of the Assassins that I actually like. He's got good banter, hard to catch and doesn't seem to take things too seriously. That is juxtaposed to the fact that the wider collective of Assassins seem to have power trips, reckless with their balls like they've never seen a vet's bin bag. Assassins themselves are really going out with a whimper. 2023 was the year of the losses, refresh scripts and exodus wasn't it. Thank god for Packs though, because RebuildByPacks-ins would need a name change if they couldn't keep up. They've obviously been a force in the past, with and without bug using hits and destroying some servers completely - not seeing much evidence of that now though.

Responses

Deadmau5 had nothing to say in response to JeB, FTN, or MUPPETS. It can only be assumed positive sentiments were appreciated or shared and negative sentiments were deemed unworthy of spending any further of his time on.

To Jotunn (FGR)

I'll say this, I completely understand not being a threat, there are multiple reasons why. My fleet was built from res earned, not bought. I didn't swap my account (this is the same one I merged here with in a forced merge before GY was a thing) and I didn't waste 1000s to sit in V mode most of the time (3 weeks active since May I believe? :D)

So if the "modern game" is buy fleet for thousands and sit in V, I'll stay in the past, the music was better anyway

To Ice (CHIMERA)

Probe probe probe senora, probe him all the time

probe probe probe senora, even though online

probe while online, I'll recall all the time, OK, now I'll V mode

probe while online, I'll recall all the time, OK, now I'll V mode

probe while online, I'll recall all the time, OK, now I'll V mode

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Happy New Year Everyone!

In response to Jex, this project was my first opportunity to speak with Ice, Deadmau5, and Shalimar as well so I'm right there with you. I would also like to whole heartedly thank those three again, along with AMOTION, King Rabbit, Arcane, and Jotunn for their participation. Between the interviews, those volunteering details for the history project, and this special there has been a far more diverse representation of Universe 1 players than I'd have ever imagined possible. While there are still notable names like baal, Coffy/KoolAid, PAGAN, ThunderChild, Slevin, and more who did not end up participating, it goes to show how amazingly diverse Universe 1 still is even in its sort of "golden years". Plus maybe some opportunity exists there for others to make the impossible possible and represent their parts in OGame history as well.

This brings us into the finale. The end of the line in terms of my organizing these projects (beyond finishing up the crazy long history project...at least we're past the halfway mark now!) and the best I could do to give back to a game that I mindlessy whittled away untold hours of my life with. I may have never become a well know figure for my in-game play, but I did find my place in things after all. It's been a challenging, surprising, and enlightening journey on many levels for me and a nice bit of closure to efforts that had otherwise felt half done or unattempted.

And speaking of efforts. In this last dance of the night, we have the great antagonizer Ice (of CHIMERA) and the rule of law Jotunn (of FGR). Let the final conflicts commence!

Quote

THE ICE (CHIMERA) PANEL

Comments

From Deadmau5 (ASSASSIN)

Ice is a weird one to talk about. I personally had no issues with him in game and actually briefly played with him in another uni with a bunch of ASSASSIN members. The problem was not everyone got along and most of us left the uni and focused on our main accts. Ice eventually merged to uni 1 and began probing/attacking the members he didn't get along with and then V moding before he could be attacked back, this is what I don't like.

From what I saw in other unis he was a capable fleeter and made hits often and was active. From what I've seen lately he comes out of V mode, probes around and goes back in V mode. He also complained about people who P2W but then upgraded his own acct to a much higher rank one to V mode, probe, V mode, I'm assuming he ran out of deut on his own account so swapped to another

Chimera alliance I don't know much about, merged here and some are active, some aren't. I know of a few of the players, such as PAGAN, who I've played with briefly in another uni (although I normally play multiple unis under multiple names) and know he is very capable of fleeting. PAGAN actually offered me a place in CHIMERA when I was briefly without an alliance, so he seems like an OK guy, as is 350 R before he gave the account away (if it isn't Kenny anymore) and Ice as I mentioned before.

From Jotunn (FGR)

Chimera to FGR are not much of a thought for us, they are not our targets of interest and don't really impact anything we do. As an alliance I think we would call ourselves neutral to Chimera, we do not see them as an enemy nor a friend, they are just here. Chimera is generally a small vmode alliance with Pagan and Ice being the only impactful characters on the universe in their alliance with Song leaving (GLIRL or whatever you're doing now). FGR does not have any diplomacy to speak of with Chimera so there is not much to say in that regard. In general I believe it is known Chimera do not see eye to eye with FGR and our allies for their own reasons which is fine with us.

Ice is the most interesting character in Chimera and despite what some others would like to believe is also a great fleeter and has had some great moments in OGame which I have followed. I think Ice and I have our differences but that aside on a personal level I respect him and the ability he has to cause damage if he so wished, I think FGR in general feel this way. Although Ice likes to troll for the fun of it I found in private conversations (of which we haven't had too many) he is actually very pleasant and comes across different to when he is in groups with other certain characters. The fact Ice stayed with Chimera and not joining his other pro Assassin friends I think did surprise us but perhaps he found a home in Chimera under Pagan's wing.

From Shalimar (FTN)

One of the first things that pops into my head when I think of Chimera, and especially Ice, is a massive hatred of res packs and anyone who uses them. I have never quite figured out how they reconcile this with the pack usage of Pagan. I'm confused on their internal politics, though admittedly I have put little effort into understanding, however they seem to get along with each other nicely. I must say, when Chimera joined uni 1 and opened up the large "Donato 'Nam" discord, that was a very nice place that brought the alliances of the universe together to chat and joke. I have not seen any exciting hits that Chimera have made at all despite having quite a few very large fleets.

Ice himself I haven't had much interaction with. Seems a decent fellow. Was happy to take my random message in game where I praised him for his honorable status (he had 200k HP at the time). Ice seems to be quite vocal on Discord which is always nice to see. Active players are what the universe needs. I would like to see a big hit (not on me) from Ice as soon as possible.

From AMOTION (JeB)

I can’t say that I have ever had a conversation with Ice, and I don’t believe that we have ever had any ingame confrontations yet. However I have certainly noticed him, he has been probably the most active fleeter in CHIMERA. I regularly see him on the MD/ML list and he has done some impressive hits so far.

As far as CHIMERA as a whole, I really haven’t had many interactions with them so far. I have made a couple of friends in there that I chat with now, just like most of the other major alliances. I have hit several and all of them have been great sports so far.

From Basil/Arcane (MUPPETS)

Ice is possibly the most deranged canadian I have ever met, but that's not surprising seeing as he's one of the baguette brigade canadians. How he can sit in an alliance as chief anti-packer with packstar pagan and actually not feel the hypocrisy eat at him is beyond me. Ice is an interesting case study; he's a decent enough fleeter, in an alliance of inaction, who probably makes more impact in the uni in his limited time out of vmode than the rest of Chimera combined. Chimera themselves, and Guild by extension, have done naff all really apart from provide a cesspit of a discord that is styled in their glorious leader's image - but don't link to it because that is wrong.

Responses

To Deadmau5 (ASSASSIN)

This is just more of the same lazy narrative some people push. I have definitely been using vmode a lot lately but when I arrived in U1 at first I spent plenty of time out of vmode and gave anyone willing a chance to make a move. Things just get stale quickly and the game bores me most of the time nowadays, so I don't stick around much anymore.

The speculation about why I switched accounts is just weird mental backflips... The fleet is just way bigger, the account is better and more fun to play, and it was about to be vacant... simple as that. And how does that relate to my dislike for P2W? I just know no one is foolish enough to imply I'd pay for an account, lol...Also, it's easy to talk about spending deut when you only spend some for deployment missions and cargo transports, lol.

Deadmau5 man, just leave that rotten alliance. Then you won't have to push the silly narratives anymore, you'll be free, and it will be beautiful, trust me. Just do it.

To Jotunn (FGR)

Damn Jotunn makes me feel bad for talking so much trash at him, he's good at coming across like a good guy, I almost want to believe him. I definitely do enjoy trolling, I'll give him that. I'm looking forward to seeing his response to my initial statement for sure

As far as my choice of alliance I would say that the U1 political landscape is very... intricate. So I wouldn't read too much into it. It's true CHIMERA hasn't had any ACS hits worth mentioning so far. I would love to make that change, maybe if I can find enough motivation it can eventually happen.

To Shalimar (FTN)

When it comes to Pagan using packs, I definitely expected a comment of the sort, the only question was, who would bring it up. First of all, it's very simple, I was offered an opportunity to play a CHIMERA account and accepted.

Granted, Pagan has used packs, and he knows I'm not a fan of it trust me, but in my estimation CHIMERA remains the alliance that has used the least packs, and has only a single player with that playstyle; others have 5+ members with top 10 fleets built almost solely from scratch; others get recycled by Assassin multiple times and still somehow end up in the top fleets. It's not even comparable, if you ask me. I was offered free packed res pulling at some points to do another man's dirty deeds and refused by principle, which had him severely upset.

So while it's not perfect, I still have a desire (sometimes) to play, and this is the alliance where I need to compromise my principles the least. For example, Pagan is not out there naming his planets "I can res pack better than you", and associating with absolutely shameful nooblets just in order to score some kool-aid. If you look at the top of the U1 landscape, CHIMERA is by far the lesser of evils when it comes to packing. That said, there is no internal politic in regards to packs. Everyone plays their game, no pressure, the only politic is to abide by the game rules.

As far as making hits, of course I won't be making that many being a v-mode warrior nowadays in a 1x uni, but I did have a top 10 which is more than some can say but I will do my best of course to make more in the future.

To AMOTION (JeB)

Cheers to that mate, not much else to say

To Basil aka Arcane (MUPPETS)

Honestly, I'm not even sure where Arcane sees the hypocrisy. He is an expert at mental backflips so you come to expect these takes. I despise packs strongly, and I despise Pagan's usage of them as well. If you look at the playstyle of the major alliances around, CHIMERA is the only alliance where only a single fleeter has even used packs. Look at FGR, MUPPETS, ASS, their whole circlejerks were just splurging in Kool Aid for months and gloating about it on discussion platforms and/or ingame. So while it's not perfect I wouldn't even have an account without Pagan. And our egos are not that fragile that we cannot coexist while not seeing eye to eye on everything. As for the rest, Muppets are a boring adversary to play against, except for KR back when he was active, which unfortunately didn't last. Most fun I had recently was when he tried to time me back.

BTW here's the link to the chat.

https://discord.gg/63WvcCxXwk

Even Arsecane and King Rabid ragequit the discord, so click at your own perils.

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Quote

THE JOTUNN (F G R) PANEL

Comments

From Deadmau5 (ASSASSIN)

Jotunn is another weird one to talk about. The majority of the time I've spoken with Jotunn we've had some good chats, either being friendly with each other or having decent banter. He went from a miner to fleeter and made some good profitable hits and was active quite a lot. I'm assuming Al showed him the ropes as he seemed to pick it up well. He started being less active and spent a lot of time in V mode and only came out to pack and build his fleet. I would have been more impressed if he had raided and crashed people for the res but this is the game now and he's just using the mechanics everyone seems to be.

FGR alliance had a solid group of members, it's a shame to see many of them in V mode now but everyone has a life outside of OGame and real life gets in the way a lot. Esio was a good fleeter and made decent hits. Weird Al and Slevin are very active and very good at watching and waiting and making great hits and it's a shame they're "enemies" as they would be good to play alongside. FGR remind me of ASSASSIN, a strong close group who have good planet spread and are capable of huge damage when they feel like it. I imagine they can call on the V moders to help whenever needed the same as we can.

From Shalimar (FTN)

FGR...Fleeting Goons Republic? Doesn't matter. I have a lot of experience dealing with FGR, and yes I say dealing with FGR despite them being allies. Other than my own amazing alliance, FGR is why I play the game. I love being a deut seller, and oh lord do I love seeing 2-5 members of FGR fighting each other in every way possible when I post that deut is for sale. When I was newer to the universe I thought of the alliances in sides of a war, it was FGR vs ASSASSIN at the time, I figured FGR was the good guys. After probably 2 years working with them, I think they are more of just a different bad guy, but they are wonderful people, and a ton of fun to work with. At the end of the day, FGR is always there with a defend when needed, and a joke every other time.

Jotunn is a wealth of OGame knowledge from rules, to history, Jotunn is always happy to help out a teammate. I could be wrong on this, but I think Jotunn is the leader of FGR, but I'm not sure how much FGR can be led so much as just steered away from drunkenly flying millions of BC just to be petty. Props to Jotunn (can't not mention Joho here as well) for wrangling that herd of cats. Jotunn, as with many members of FGR, has always impressed me with his fleeting skills. Having a big fleet is cool and all, but getting results is something Jotunn has proven capable of.

From AMOTION (JeB)

Aside from him being a BA, I haven’t managed to make much of an impression of Jotunn. I don’t remember him being in F G R before my break several years ago, and I haven’t really seen him do much of anything since. Unless he has changed accounts or nicks I don’t think I’ve missed anything from his military destroyed either.

As far as the alliance itself, F G R has to be one of my most favorite alliances - they have been the victims of some of my best fleet crashes over the years (couldn’t help myself). Now that I got that one out of the way first, F G R has probably been my longest running OGame fleeter competition, and it has been a fun ride so far. I have to have changed alliances at least 4 times by now and on the other end it has always been F G R; that has to say something. I am looking forward to seeing how this competition goes now from here.

From Ice (CHIMERA)

Jotunn is one of those people you just cannot bring yourself to respect. OGame team members have consistently had some of the worst personalities in the game and this guy does nothing to end the trend. Watching him attempt to talk trash is just a mixed bag of emotions, ranging from amusement to disgust, from laughter to cringe. The worst thing that has ever happened to him is owning a fleet and becoming moderator.

I remember with nostalgia the days when he was still a quiet, humble little miner and didn't have nearly as much balls as since he joined FGR, bought a fleet and joined the team. And let's not get started on his behind the scenes antics because this is the OGame forums and I'm on a short leash. Jotunn gets a big fat zero out of 5 for being an absolute cornball of a being.

From Basil/Arcane (MUPPETS)

Cillidan. He's not even called Dan which pisses me off. I've known Cil for a number of years, and always found him alright for a southern fairy. We have the same views on how to play/treat people and also how we like to work with our friends. FGR And Muppets have shared a lot, and introduced to a lot of good people on either side (and little jake). They have a good mix of humans, who we speak with most days and share tips both ways. People outside of the two teams give Cil a lot of shit, but they fail to realise he's part of the GF team, and because of that has to have a fine line of what he can say, what he's allowed to share without causing a shit storm for himself. Often he finds it easier to just not talk.

Responses

To Deadmau5 (ASSASSIN)

As previously stated Deadmau5 is a respectful person, I agree with most of what he said other than Al showing me the ropes. Al for sure assisted in bringing me up to speed with modern fleeting but it was a real FGR team effort and all the fleeters such as Esio, LD, Ocelot, Al, Slevin and more deserve a big thanks from myself.

It is true I spent a lot of time in vmode in recent years, I used to go years at a time without a vmode period but these days life gets the better of me, I feel this is all too real for many of us.

I would love to see more from Deadmau5 in the coming future, perhaps if he has time would be nice to see his name on a new top 10 in the near future as after many years his name is now not in that current list (not to take away from his past achievements).

To Shalimar (FTN)

It is funny that despite how close the relationship, even within FTN the FGR leadership is a mystery. In a sense that is the intended way of things, FGR does not have a simple leadership format although those within may understand it differently. We are a group that decides things together for the best interest to us, there is no one direct power within FGR.

FGR being just a different bad guy might just be the best way I have heard someone talk about the ASSASSIN/FGR rivalry. It is all based on perspective and where you're looking from the outside.

To AMOTION (JeB)

Interesting that Amotion doesn't seem to read the top 10's. Sure I am no top fleeter, nor claim to be, but I took up fleeting near the start of 2022. Since that short time I have had 4 hyper advanced top 10's with my name and part of my work to them, 3 of them against our biggest rivals, amongst other top 10s I have played my part in, even if my fleet was not directly used.

My military destroyed (MD) is not inflated by expeditions like most people in Universe 1. I never ran expeditions during the V7 mess and haven't done so since, that accounts for about half of most peoples MD in this universe at least, that stat is irrelevant these days. What is true is my current time constraints, I don't expect to get much of anything done in the near future with a busy life so I wish Amotion luck with his competition.

To Ice (CHIMERA)

This response could not have been more expected. One of the biggest trolls in OGame and, as already stated, when in front of a group of people he likes to show off and become a comedian, he knows no other way. Due to his obsession with me he forgot to read the rules of the interview. One half of the subject was meant to be his and Chimeras general view on FGR and then a separate piece on me as the rep for the interview. I am glad people get to see this side of him though, only makes my points more valid, thanks.

To Basil aka Arcane (MUPPETS)

As one of our closest allies there's a respect I have for Arcane and MUPPETS that most outside of our alliance would not understand. The unseen work that Arcane puts in to keep MUPPETS competitive is something I can admire and most will never achieve.

🍻 Here's to many more years of an FGR/MUPPETS alliance and many more top 10's!

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IT'S OVER!