Following the ZT war, the best players mostly went to us, with the except of I think one or two going to OV or Rejects. Von Moo and most the leaders ghosted out though and the left overs joined Order 66. I think for this brief moment, Turtle Time was arguably the most powerful alliance in Olous. Having stacked up with heavy hitters, reliable newer players, and great leaders like myself, Nick, and Adam. The moment was sweet but as I'll talk about shortly, it was short lived.
Tripartite was born, but there were still some things to iron out. For example Rejects and OV were allied to Stay Cool. Rejects were allied to Order 66 and their branches. Stay Cool wasn't an issue so much as a fun fact. Order 66 was the issue as they were the next target...Or in OV's case...the current target. But the issue was short lived, thankfully Order 66 made convincing everyone to get on board easy when they began trying to expand into Reject's core and recruiting the left overs from ZT. Tri declared war on Order 66 and friends. As expected O66 couldn't withstand Stay Cool/Tri and they quickly fell apart. Creating a lot of quick recruiting and clean up. It seemed like we would be turning back west for a bit to tie up some loose ends. But, Stay Cool entered O45 via recruiting the ex- Orders and eating their cities.
This put a strain on our relationship and after a couple of days of getting no where, we took a different approach. Cox, Poison, and I talked to the SC leaders with the exception of Nex. I'll save the details. But I will say we didn't take a pleasant approach anymore and it resulted in war as they wouldn't get out. After realizing that we planned to come full tilt, SC sat back down and offered a ceasefire and to move out. We accepted and it seemed we had an understanding. Sadly, it took less than a day for that deal to get blown up by SC. This time when we went back to the table, we upped the stakes and said that we wanted control of SC as they were clearly incapable of controlling it themselves.
Now this has been a hot topic of debate in the past. So let me clear the air. The original intention wasn't to start a war but to make clear that we weren't to be thrown under the bus and and were willing to go toe to toe with anyone...For the first talk. The second talk, we were looking to start a war, we didn't expect them to actually give us control, and we'd be pretty disappointed if they did. Bottom line, we were annoyed by then and they put a target between their eyes. That said, after talking to them for six months on and off, their leaders are actually pretty cool people when you get to know them and I wouldn't see an issue like that ever happening again if I ran into them in a different world. Its more likely the language barrier/miscues combined with our determination to eliminate a problem that did in the pact than something absolutely sinister.
That said, this was the most important war in Olous. Stay Cool/Roni's Team (forgot its name) was the powerhouse of Olous and Tri was now challenging for that title. The war went off without a hitch, mostly due to Killer Bunnies pressuring them up north and Winners being able to punch above its weight. Turtle Time never got big licks in since it was so far back, but was sending support across the ocean and involved in many key breaks. They also began fighting OSG around this time. A couple of times they got us right after a big break. It was a decent war, but Stay Cool had too many holes and was gradually crumbling. We had tied the noose by beginning a relationship with Winners. This effectively cut off Stay Cool from relief and a month later would result in their downfall.
But while Tri as a whole was flourishing and on the rise during this time. Turtle Time was experiencing something of a fall from grace. Before the SC war had begun, we had began to stagnate with internals. Losing several key players like Adam, Darkmater, and Yuki. But on top of that we also had lost other players. The months spanning from March to May were almost purely internals. Whenever we cleared the hump and began taking cities off of enemies like OSG or their allies in Lords of Anarchy and Waste Management, another internal would pop up and we'd lose what we gained due to that player leaving. Our days as an individual top dog were gone...But our days as an underrated group of fighters had begun.
After SC fell and had been absorbed by various teams but Roni's team remained for Winners to deal with even though the SC war was dragging on, it wasn't enough to stop us. Victory for what was now unofficially Quadpartite was pretty much a lock. But most people didn't see it yet or if they did, they didn't make an issue of it. During this time Turtle Time were still dealing with internals, we were hit with our last major round during Easter, when Greystone, the person I left in charge of O35 had quit without telling us. We had a scrap over her cities and lost some but kept most. During this time, we moved Ianmd up to replace Greystone for O35. It turned out to be the best decision in the end. The internals were done and Ian set to work immediately, sending CS after CS at LOA and WM. The two teams had begun to have their own internal issues with inactive players and a group having rebelled on WM and the rebels were winning. It was also during this time that I took my long VM for summer courses and graduation. Ian and Nick did a phenomenal job and by the time I came back, LOA and WM were things of the past and we had secured nearly all of O35. Turtle Time had emerged from its slump and become a power again, this time a tight knit group of players who relied on each other. Because of this, OSG had found itself deadlocked with us and unable to advance.
I came back on the heels of WW. Roni's team was now gone and Tri's main fight was with OWS in the south and OSG in the north. I believe Rejects were by then merged into Turtle Time. I wish I could say I did something impressive when I first got back. But I remember the first thing I did when I got back was forget to turn my alarm ringer on and professorgreen clearing out my front line for a lot of BP. So the second thing I did was rebuild obviously. After that I finally ran an op and we ended up taking out some random OSG player almost entirely. During this time, we pushed Slogozo and some of the other OSG around and I think began changing leads with them, though OSG i'm betting leads again now. The war was truly getting interesting but we knew it was leading to a blue ball experience.
Behind the scenes we began to build our lead for wonders, this time securing Killer Bunnies to our side when we learned that OSG was trying to get them as well. Ultimately this came down to luck. Martfol, the KB leader, seemed like he was going to try to screw us, but he quit/was driven out. The ball bounced our way and the new KB leaders joined with us. The ball bounced our way again when we realized that OSG wasn't really prepared to win and this might off set their major advantage with our major disadvantage....resource shipping distance. In the end that was the deciding factor I believe. Despite our size advantage and favor advantage, I firmly believe that OSG would have won the world had they built a core for WW sooner and been prepared for it.
We had won, and had dug in for that epic fight for the crown...imagine our disappointment at not getting that fight. It was a bitter sweet feeling. On one hand, we had delivered our people to the promised land. On the other hand, no fighting was done and no fighting was attempted until after we had crowned and we were preparing for round 2 of crowns. Finally a CS landed on the lighthouse and was destroyed. But we wanted to move Horsevong off for messing up that badly, I'd imagine OSG and OWS rolled out of their chairs laughing when my co-founder had disbanded our team and ghosted. I'll always feel bad for those let down by one player's actions.
But my reaction will probably take you all by surprise...I found the irony comical and couldn't help but feel some entertainment by what happened. The reason for this is simple to explain, I laughed so hard when it happened to OWS and OSG, simply put how they went down was funny and entertaining and easily avoidable. So when it happened to us, I can't say that I was raging. I don't want to sound like that tool that plays off that they don't care. Obviously I care, I wouldn't choose this situation, and I'll never play with that player again. I also take what happened personally since it is my guy that I hand selected to guard that island. But, you gotta roll with the punches in life and sometimes you can make good decisions, have a great plan, and a great team and still not have everything go your way. In this case, only most the world went our way. The ending seems a bit a fitting. Quad won and crowned, OSG crowned. These two never got throw their punches on each other properly. But it was also clear in my eyes that this order was the clear 1 and 2.
In the end I'm happy with the results and proud of what was accomplished. A lot of great people and players came to this world and I made a lot of great friends and allies and had a lot of fun on the world. At the end of the day I can't let one person ruin the experience for me.
With that said, I think its time for a break....well I've already basically been on one for a month or so but you get the idea. If you got my skype, feel free to chat with me. Also, i'm still responding to attacks.
One last Request: Right now I'm not sure what my grepolis future is after Olous. If I play again, expect another Turtle Time like team. If not, someone else, if not multiple people, should take the reigns. Newer/underrated players deserve a chance to not get blown off the face of the earth here. if you like Grepolis and like leading and want to see the game prolonged, I'd suggest doing this.