Hey all,

Feel free to not read it all, some of it is just reminiscing.

I write this in both spheres of the peculiar juxtaposition of sorrow and happiness. I'm saddened to walk away from what is and was such a great game, but I'm also looking forward to my new found freedom!

I've been in and out of breaks this last year and over the last couple days I've been reviewing things introspectively on choices I've made and need to make. In addition, I've looked extrospectively at the game, in both it's past and present. I feel it's time I walk away for good, and it's been quite the run.

In my tenure, with occasional breaks, I've met a lot of wonderful people, some that have changed my life in ways that I'll never be able to show enough gratitude for. I hope this community continues to live on in it's true spirits; it has been a wonderful decade and more sharing with all of you.

I wish you all the best in your future endeavors!

I'd like to give a personal shout out to all of these people who have touched my lives in one way or another, big and small, negative or positive:

achko, Aki, Aladdin, Allanon, Alosan, Anri, Anti, AquaSeaFoam, ava, beechmon, Belle, Bishop, brado, Cartis^, Catwalk, Cecilia, celien, CGG, Cheez, ChiefTroll, Chrissi, Clampy, clawz, Cloudfour, coss, CowboyJoe (however short), cubanguy (however short), curdie, cya, darkpiper, Dax, Dex, dell, DHaran, dizzysky, Eladdin, Exci, Faringail, fartner, Feta, Freewill, Froukje, Frozenfire, Grayson, Grampy, Greed, Grinch, Impera, Jacuzzi, Jivlain, Jobo, Joerne, JohnSnowstorm, Katt, killerstrike, Kurtis, Lauren, Leilani, Leviath, Liadin, LightNing, LilDutchPrincess, lodoss, Lurking-Ghost, Luth, Marc, Mejvik, Melince, Mikk, Minx, MorbidAngel, Morgana, Niko, nubcaek, Nyssian, Obli, octobrev, otTo, Pands, Phlayre, Phyzor, Pitbull, Pixie, Poekie, Raff, Raikon, Raven, rontol, rosedragon, roshambo, Sam, scorch87, Scott, Shadowrider, Shanamaj, shida, shinxz, Smoky, Snorkle, Snuble, SoCal, Souka, Steel, Stella, Steven, sully, TheRock, Tonya, Twisticans, UnknownGhost, vdshark, VT2, Weedolito, Wendy, Wizard, W0lfy, xianny, xplode, and Zeifer.

Additional shout outs to those who may or may not be in the community anymore, whom I haven't spoken to in length in quite sometime:

Arwen, Atilla, Caldar, cerberus, Danielle, Demad, diee_ana, Eric, flutterby, Hells_Angel, IanPlaypus, LadyAugustina, NOFXgirl, Jaco, Magic, Malice, Maxwell, mezcal, Pyke, Realest, Sebuzzabuzz, skraz, SoulSeer, Tai Yang, tranq, trekdrop, vermillion, VYL, Yorulf, and Zauper.

I'd like to thank Mehul and Blake for being kick ass dudes. I'd like to thank Thundergore and Lydias for being awesome community managers. I'd like to thank Patience and Mickster for being great moderators (Bishop and Exci already mentioned above :P)

And these are just some comments and memories to a few Kds:

@ Lothlorien

Pick up the pace and get your asses back on those charts! I'll put my foot square up all your asses if I don't see you there when I keep tabs. Listen to Froukje, ignore Wizard because he's a gay fish. No slackers allowed! I will billy club you all if you attempt another land lust run with full Dark Elves. :p

<3

@ Pyromaniacs

Keep it pumping!

@ Copy Cats (Disbanded)


Memories of my stay! The CC News Litter!

Heya kitties. We have decided to rejuvenate an old kingdom tradition and present you with a new edition of the CC News Litter, your very own newsletter for all things important/interesting/inane concerning the hawtest cats on the server. If people actually get around to reading it and post some positive feedback, we'll make an effort to keep writing newsletters in order to keep you updated.

For new players, or oldies looking to dwell in the past, go check out some of the old editions for a few snapshots of the kingdom's glorious past.

The CC News Litter Archives

General News

As you can all see, we've brought in a decent number of new recruits. Make the below feel welcome at home, even fondle their butts (Greed >.<), partake in 69 sessions (Fartner...), and even harass them about nudies (And no Chrissi, I will not give you mine. You already have enough, so stop asking for ****s sake!).

Shadowrider (Took over rontol, whom went MIA)
Zidian (Took over Lauren)
Clawz| (Taking over Avaa's province who in turn is replacing killerstrike)

Lets spice up the life in Copy Cats! I don't care how, show your nipples if you need to (Please take pics and send to jfinn.wf@gmail.com, thanks!). Ask Shadowrider if he really rides shadows! Does Clawz secretly dress up as Wolverine for roleplay sex? And what about Zidian? Can you come up with a stupid joke about his name? I sure as **** can't.

In other news, please be aware that this will not be a short age as planned. It's being extended 5-6 more weeks. However, we took this age seriously - so we're in a better fighting stance than a decent number of other KDs who chose to pick "fun" builds.

P.S.

Who's the asshole who came up with this comment for uTimes?

"Button nubbing is the new cool, and that's what we do - we do cool things ... Like chewing ass and kicking gum. And we're all out of ass - yeah, because we chew it all. We also see no point in kicking gum. Why would you kick gum anyway? Pfft, anyway - much respect in regards to your activity, had a fun and clean war. Maybe we'll take back some of those acres you have sometime? "

Current Strategy

Mercy (14:17) has MPed DoA, and is exiting FW. They MPed on the 14th of January, so I expect everyone to be readily available on IRC on February 14th and beyond.

For those close to unbreakable, please try and buff your defense specs as much as possible to get yourself to that point. Everyone else who are not close, ensure you are not in double tap range. Ultimately, if you can get between 50-60K static defense, you eliminate half the KD as a threat. (Bare in mind you can still be chained though). 90K+ is optimal to be unbreakable.

Our larger provinces, specifically Zidian and Cheez - I expect you to send out as much GC as you possibly can to fill all the aid requests. There is a lot, but you two alone should be capable enough to pay for it all. With leftovers, please convert offensive specs to elites.

Orcs may phase armories into Guard Stations, max of 15% however. Additionally are required to keep hitting in Anon to keep ogres out. Justifiably, aim to get your armies home around the 14-17th, but up to the 24th is forgivable (Given we have no idea when they'll actually exit). The others, please keep armies home to make it harder for them to break you.

Bare in mind not to underestimate Mercy, they can still do quite a bit of damage and be a nuisance with the right strategy and activity - which they wouldn't be an ABS KD if they weren't felt to be a reasonably good KD. So don't slack - we still expect everyone to push 110%.

Praise

Overall you guys have done fantastic in regards to conflicts.

Did an awesome job last war against Tivoli+Dementia (5:38), whooped their ass. Everyone for the most part did wonderful in the activity department, everyone was in-and-out - and those who were late (Excluding rontol), notified us in advance for the most part.

Additionally, our wave on them into their FW, despite being a bit misinformed on our part - went beautiful. 20+ uniques and 70~ hits.

Criticisms & Reminders

!info

We made it fairly clear that we will be using !info a bit more. There has been an item requiring you to add your name to the list for more than 4 days now (More than sufficient time for anyone to realize it!)

Only 11 out of 25 players signed it, in 5 days.

Please remember to check !info regularly. Always check !orders when you get on IRC and throughout the day. Try and check !info at least once or twice a day. Once you get in the habit, it won't seem like such a hassle anymore.

Triangular Trade Exchange

This has been a major failboat in some respects. Our orcs and dwarves have done a considerable amount of aiding, however - it's been clearly acknowledged that there has been a number of Elves that have been acting completely self-efficient.

Doing so disrupts the trade flow. Elves are meant to supply GC, Orcs are meant to supply solds, and Dwarves runes. For the elves to not request solds, it hampers the orcs ability to grow because it takes them longer to send out enough solds to request gold in exchange.

Only 6 orcs have to supply solds for 11 elves and additionally help Dwarves/Gnomes at random points as well. There shouldn't be any reason at all for a disrupt in flow given this ratio.

EDIT by Catwalk:
It seems that we have neglected to inform the kingdom properly about our expectations for aid usage, so here is an attempt at clarifying that.

Our setup this round is based heavily around active aid usage. Mystics have enormous rune production (x2 towers), orcs have very cheap draft (half cost) and elves have massive income (merchant + super duper ToG). These factors are way bigger than in previous rounds, hence we stand to benefit immensely from specialized production and proper interaction.

The setup was made in this way both because it's strong and because it stresses the need for interaction between players. Playing your province self sufficiently is not sufficient to meet kingdom standards. If you aren't interested in meeting kingdom standards, please tender your resignation so we will not have to make the decision for you. Tough words, but I stand by them. You can contact me in PM if you wish to discuss this issue.

Absences

Remember post here on the forums in the designated threads if you're going to miss a hit, be late for a wave, or won't be around for an extended period of time.

This applies even if you've told us on IRC - I sometimes forget myself to pass it along because my mind is somewhere else. It's much easier to just be able to check that thread for an idea of who's going to be out.

We expect everybody to do their best to always be on time for waves and hits in war. If for some reason this is not possible, we expect you to report so we can plan around it. We won't kick you out for missing hits from time to time, but we may decide if it isn't reported with a stated reason

This especially applies in wars when we organize mini-waves with groups of people. It's a serious pain in the ass if someone is late for a hit and didn't warn us in advance. We're all human - but don't let that happen consistently. Our council has high expectations of every player.

Individualism

We have some concerns about players not adopting a KD perspective on decisions. For those who are in doubt, here is what we expect from you concerning province management:

a. Always keep yourself informed about current plans and instructions for your role
b. Do your best to implement those plans as intended
c. Ask if in doubt about the plans or how to implement them
d. If you disagree with the plans, bring it up with us and suggest changes rather than simply ignoring them

We're not saying be robots, everyone has their own opinion and so forth - and you're more than welcome to question any strategy put forth and give idea on how to improve upon it. But ultimately we (Catwalk, Chrissi, Achko, Steven, and I) are the deciders - so keep this in mind.

Retal Wars and Safe Hits

If a hit is retaliated, bring it up with council rather than hitting again. Sometimes massive retaliation is warranted, sometimes backing off is wiser. It is not cost efficient to teach every nub on the server to respect us. When people start picking fights with ghettos on their own, we often get bogged down in small irrelevant conflicts that serve no purpose.

Additionally, try not to hit high offense targets. Choose turtled provinces if you can. The point of anonymous is to disrupt their ability to guess who did it (Outside of getting ambushed) and overall lose their interest in retaliating all together. Not to save you from being hit and having someone else get hit for more.
@ Synergy

You guys better be #1 when I check in on you guys. No ****ing excuses. I want Rage, Sanctuary, BIO, Pulse, Old School and Secrets notches on your war belts in the coming ages – keep it respectful! Those are your true tests of awesome sauceness. (No disrespect to any of those Kds, love you all. Except Snowstorm, he's pretty fail. :P)

Here's some recent fun excerpts of some of your good natured gullibility. Enjoy, I love you all:

-TemporBot- [Utopia time July 24th, YR6] [Tick 56:44]
<%Finn> armies home and i'm ready to hit now. won't be here for wave kk hl me plz thx
* &Stella slaps Finn around a bit with a large trout
<%Finn> lurking-ghost you here?
<%Finn> I need gold
<%Finn> :p
* Cecilia (~LTomlin@uto-73A844B0.cinci.res.rr.com) has joined #
* ChanServ sets mode: +o Cecilia
* @Souka (~nnscript@uto-18EA815E.ph.ph.cox.net) Quit (Ping timeout)
<@Lurking-Ghost> Yes I'm here
<@Lurking-Ghost> How much gold are we talking about finn ?
<@Marc> .wave
<&TemporBot> Wave in 3hrs 7mins on: January 4th, YR7 [IRL(Marc) 9pm (-)] Stel'la [May 5th, YR6]
<%Finn> About 400k
<%Finn> Please
* Snuble (~Mats.teig@uto-E27B2ECA.customer.cdi.no) has joined #
* ChanServ sets mode: +o Snuble
<%Finn> Can you send it now?
* Chrissi is now known as Chrissi|dinner
<%Finn> Need it before tick so hurryyyy. my troops are dying
<%Finn> :p
<~Chrissi|dinner> your troops are dying
<~Chrissi|dinner> bec you need gold
<~Chrissi|dinner> ok ok
<~Chrissi|dinner> now it all makes sense
<@Snuble> lol
<%Finn> yes
<%Finn> thank you!
<%Finn> So hurry LG, they're dying because they can't buy food
<@Snuble> nice nice
* Snuble is now known as Snuble|afk
* @Snuble|afk is now auto-away after 10m idle
<@Lurking-Ghost> I don't have 400 K
<%Finn> How much you got?
* Obli (~baabaashe@uto-A016F981.kymp.net) has joined #
* ChanServ sets mode: +o Obli
<@Lurking-Ghost> 300 K
<&Grayson> .aidlist
<%Finn> I'll talk 300k
<%Finn> take*
<%Finn> and 50k bushels
<%Finn> if you got
<&Stella> Finn, shut up
<@Lurking-Ghost> .check finn
<&Stella> stop fooling people
<%Finn> lol
<%Finn> :p
<%Finn> shhh
<&Stella> Lurking-Ghost, people with % don't have a prov
<@Lurking-Ghost> ?!?
<@Lurking-Ghost> LOL
<%Finn> :p
<@Lurking-Ghost> That is mean !
<&Stella> they are ex players who we give access cause they are nice to us
* &Stella looks at Finn

<@Poekie> Anyone wants some runes? ;)
<@OtTO> or cash
<~Chrissi|dinner> im too leet to break
* Chrissi|dinner is now known as Chrissi
<@faringail> are we hitting that one :P
<%Finn> Poekie
<%Finn> I could use some runes
<@Poekie> like, 350k or so?
<~Chrissi> nah, let it pass
<~Chrissi> we got better things to do
<%Finn> 200k would do
<@Poekie> .check finn
<%Finn> two in one day
<%Finn> I'm on a roll
* @Poekie slaps TemporBot around a bit with an old Panda.
<@Poekie> .check finn
<%Finn> It must be broken
<@Obli> lol
<@Obli> everyone still falling for that? :P
<%Finn> :p
<%Finn> 50k bushels too
<%Finn> I forgot
<@Poekie> What's your prov?
<%Finn> I have no gc, so my troops are dying because they can't buy foods
<~Chrissi> wtf
<~Chrissi> what is wrong with pimp
* &Stella slaps Finn
* @Obli Sends Finn ONE MILLION RUNES AND ONE MILLION BUSHELS
<@Poekie> oh
<@Poekie> :(
<@OtTO> I got 500k food if u NEED
<%Finn> 50k is fine Otto
<&Stella> Finn don't have a prov
<@Obli> hey nubs he doesnt play in our kd :P
<%Finn> :p
<@OtTO> .check finn
<%Finn> LOL
<@Obli> REMEMBER!!
* @Poekie shares nubhat with otto
<~Chrissi> look at the op!
<@OtTO> .check finn
<@Obli> ffs its like everyday here :P
<@Obli> Finn asks for aid
<@OtTO> ah
<@Obli> and someone checks him up :P
<@Obli> lol
<%Finn> :p
<&Stella> .order new People with % or lower idling in our priv chan don't play with us! And Finn stop tricking our kd members!
<@OtTO> wtf...
<%Finn> Stella
<@Obli> I think Poekie has fallen for it many times :P
<@Obli> haha
<~Chrissi> lol stella

<@Cubanguy> anyone need food?
<%Finn|around> me
<%Finn|around> 50k bushels
<@Cubanguy> I got almost 1 mil bushels
<@Cubanguy> .check finn
<%Finn|around> Bot must be slow, try again
<@Cubanguy> What proc are you
<@Cubanguy> prov*
<@Cubanguy> .check finn
<%Finn|around> prov name "there once was a man who fell for it"
<@Obli> Finn|around pluease!!
<@Obli> lol
<%Finn|around> Check orders Cuban :p
<@Cubanguy> >.<
<@Cubanguy> douche
<@Cubanguy> haha
<%Finn|around> You're #4 today
<%Finn|around> :p
Contact Information

I'll no longer idle IRC at this point, I may check in every now and then in Synergy's private but that's it. If you want to keep in contact feel free to use the following:

Facebook: Jesse Finn [Image is currently a smiley face]
MSN: Coruscale@hotmail.com
AIM: Coruscale

FAREWELL!

With Love,



Jesse E. Finn