Sure being a good player helps, but so does sensible diplomacy, we grow because we don't take on threats that will hamper us, and we don't attack the wrong targets.
Seriously? You go for the weak targets that don't have a chance versus the ones that will actually be fun to compete against?
We could have declared war on 404 weeks ago, months maybe. The only difference would have been that while our troops were out defending and attacking a continent away, we'd have been vulnerable to attacks from our, at least my, home continent. So if you want to know why Bi! haven't declared on all of the top 20, as you seem to want us too, or why tribes shouldn't abandon their own interests to attack Bi! for some vague moral reason, it's because bad diplomacy won't help anyone.
Please, tell me where I said you should target the entire top 20 or anything to do with when you should of attacked 404? You are just putting words in my mouth here. The last time I checked they were in a diagonal continent and only posed a threat to one or two members you recruited (Zalastian at the time) so a war with them seemed pointless. I can't think of a way that you could of somehow created an expansion between them strategically. Maybe fill me in on that one?
No offense. But even if we'd kept the 20 original members, we'd have been destroyed. The first tribe we warred, DJLS and WET had at least 200 members, ten times our number. Seeing as you're obsessed with calling us average, there was no way we could play with those odds. We recruited to become competitive, because people like the OP are calling for en-masse attacks, and if we're beign forced to play against lots of players, it stands to reason that when we find strong, like-minded players, we'll ask them if they want to join.
I didn't say that recruiting was bad, or that keeping your original 20 or so original members was your best option. I'm stating that continuous recruitment of competition is no way to play. Your members seem to think they earned bragging rights and the state of being egotistical, through high ODD and the like by mindlessly amassing thousands of troops. Making bad decisions and not keeping to the tribe's best interest is where you went wrong. Instead of acting competitively you all simply heightened your morale collecting as many villages as possible leaving you with no option to recruit local enemies that posed a threat. Tribe Memeber Fluctuation
And seriously? You're saying that replacing members who go inactive is a bad thing? Sometimes at around 27.5k points a player decides to stop playing, for whatever reason. Maybe boredom, maybe RL, maybe he's about to get nobled. The fact is people don't play forever. So we can either dwindle in numbers, till it's just Grant playing by himself, or we can replace those we lose.
Again, you are putting words into my mouth. I didn't say replacing members was bad just the over recruitment based on gaining land and not having to fight. Bi! gloat about their ODD. You have enough bonfires and any good tribe will have enough defence to recycle among the tribe to thwart incomings. Spending all day in a skype chat room spamming wasting away your premium time isn't exactly fun, people have left Bi! mainly due to the boredom of playing village collection and finding the best way to farm. Incomings are hardly spread in an efficient manner, which is nothing you can control but the fakes:real ratio means that if Bi! are as good as they make out to be then they should have no problems recycling defence.
The fact is this, we recruit to stay competitive and we recruit because there are people we like who want to join.
Recruiting, recruiting, where does the competition come from? You can give me as many lists of "top" tribes or groups as you want on any game, and I can tell you that most aren't very competitive, but whatever floats their respective boats.