Good points made and Kings swag is always dope : )
I already explained why we are loosing cities so quickly right now and these are not excuses but cold hard facts. But I will clarify them for those of us who actually want to debate this.
Disclaimer these are my OWN opinions and DO NOT reflect the views of my alliance. Also I enjoy debates (that can be a vice or virtue sometimes) in general so that is why I'm still here as its more interesting than the game sometimes : )
So here are the reasons why I THINK we are loosing cities.
1.) We give most of the defensive support for all of our cities roughly about 90% or more. Why Jossy and Apoc don't send more can be speculated on and already has been. No other person can debate that except for the players in Apoc, Jossy or TBD who see the numbers each day. Lack of defensive support against 3 alliances offensive attacks = lost cities.
2.) The Halloween event. Hey who is building Manti, Erinyes and Harpy nukes each night? Why is this not a lame excuse. Well, because you have to defend against 3 alliances building nukes each and every night and provide 90% of the defense to those cities from your own alliance who have 25 or more members on VM. That is just a numbers game. More offense made more quickly in greater numbers overwhelms your opponents defense. Yes other alliances have gone through this experience to some degree and we now know its sucks....myth nuke after myth nuke after myth nuke.
3.) Here is the answer most of the attacking alliances want to hear to boost up their egos and get bragging rights. TBD is fighting against 3 alliances. One good and one very good alliances. ( I will let you guys figure out who that is). They plan their attacks well find the weak links and exploit them. And one of those alliances does that REALLY well. You know who you are.
4.) Bad positioning. Being the main alliance in the exact middle of the world is usually trouble unless your alliance is skilled in diplomacy and has friends to align with and you have to choose your enemies very carefully. This because the middle ocean is basically surrounded on 4 sides and can be attacked on many different fronts. Rim alliances usually have an advantage of not being surrounded and can use its deep core cites to defend frontline cities as they have no enemy usually to worry about. If they pact or NAP with the alliances above and below them then they are in incredible position to expand.
5.) This is the best reason so far. We want to loose this many cities because we wanted more of a challenge and are just holding back until we feel ready to attack and dominate this world again. Our main strategy involves two key alliances. "Simmers of Baris" and the alliance "Wargasm" each only consists of only one person but their passion and intensity REALLY can motivate me, I mean us.
With these 2 strong and experienced alliances WE WILL RULE THIS WORLD AGAIN......
And Oliver you make a good point maybe hitting Rational was not the best idea as it put another alliance against us when we knew we had 2 good alliances to fight already. Making too many enemies in this game usually is not a winning strategy. "Pick your enemies more carefully than your friends they will be with you longer."