The Irtarded:
I stand by the 'TNO refuses to loose' statement.
Irtar, either stop talking out of your ass, or shut up.
The fact that TNO rarely looses a battle is not synonymous with "TNO refuses to lose". The fact that whenever the GC suffers a defeat they immediately jump to "TNO refuses to lose" is, I think, part of the reason that the GC has not been able to advance beyond its current position.
You might say that TNO refuses to lose, but I think the GC refuses to accept a loss. Every time they're defeated, I see cries of "foul". Never an acceptance that they got bested.
Case in point: Bilbringi. See the above in this thread for proof. See the IC thread for further proof.
Saying that TNO refuses to lose is a major misnomer: the GC is every bit as unwilling to lose. The thing is, TNO has won a lot of its battles, and gets painted with "you never lose because you don't want to" brush.
Give me a break. In a competitive thread, there will be a winner and there will be a loser (generally). The fact that TNO wins many of its thread is a testament to the skill of its writers, not because of some OOC conspiracy to win.
Hell, look at the number of supporters the GC has OOC. If this were the case, TNO could never get away with "refusing to lose". The simple fact of the matter is that those victories are earned.
Given that all of TNO's members of reasonable, veterans of TRF, I think you could ask any of them this question and get a yes:
Would you be willing to see TNO fall as part of a good, well executed storyline?
The GC has not as of yet offered a compelling storyline. Why do you keep expecting TNO to simply roll over and die? Because the GC are the "good guys" and you're operating under some Hollywood ideal that the good guys always win?
I'll accept that they usually do - but usually at the end of the story. We have not yet reached that end.
For my part, I would welcome a reversal of roles. There's lots of opportunities for personal growth, one character clawing their way to the top, etc. But the story that gets us there has to be awesome. It will take more than a halfhearted effort to get us to that point. I would argue that it would require one of the best threads in TRF's history.
And this talk of a fleet restart? I go back to Hollywood - what will a restart accomplish except to give the "good guys" a leg up? Nowhere in TRF's mandate does it say "let the good guys win" - if they want to win, it has to be earned, not handed out because we feel sorry for them.
Let the Coalition be overrun. The Empire, having finally conquered its rival, will stand alone and overconfident. The possibilities for storylines involved an Alliance and an Empire are endless.
And let's stop insulting the integrity of TNO members while we're at it, Irtar. TNO's RPers are among the best and most reasonable on TRF. We'll play any storyline as reasonably and fair as the GC will.
[size=1]"So the woman asked me what I wanted on the sandwich and I said I do not care it is for a duck, and she was like oh then it's free. I was not aware that ducks eat for free at Subway. It's like give me a chicken fajita sub, but don't worry about ringing it up, it is for a duck.”
-Mitch Hedberg
[/size]