M.R.A. or Not

DeletedUser10674

Guest
I see that a lot of people like to judge before they know any fact. How do you analize an M.R.A. (massive recruitment alliance)?
I see that my alliance is judged as an MRA and i completely agree with you guys, but most of the players in this alliance are very experienced players from EN worlds or US worlds.
Barking before the protection time is over, it is a common thing, but when you end up beaten by a supposed to be MRA alliance, what are going to be your action?
I love to read the forum and i am not pointing on anybody, but when the time comes, you guys will see what an alliance could do and not do.
I will rather bark after the protection time is over because that is the time where the real fight starts.
Wish you good luck to everybody and happy hunting after the thanksgiving.

Julio
 

DeletedUser11157

Guest
I would say that a MRA is any alliance or family of alliances that, in terms of members, grows at a much faster rate than normal. In your case, before the sun set on the first day, Dire Wolves had an academy.
Most people are prejudiced against MRAs, myself included. However, there can be benefit to such. The turnover rate in the beginning of a world is astonishingly high, and by recruiting a lot of members, you will be sure to get a couple that will stick around for a while.
 

DeletedUser10674

Guest
Nicely said Bane of Zeus. i would +rep you, but i think in US servere do not have it.
 

DeletedUser

Guest
What is a MRA? Well that depends on a few different things. What is a perspective? And what is a opinion? A mra is a generally known as a a alliance ran by say a semi experienced player who massive(And in your case I do mean massively) recruits players of a lower then tolerated average of people. You may say they are all experienced, and it has nothing to do with you as a alliance, but I personally know that majority of your second alliance is players I skipped over because of various miscellaneous reasons, but dont get me wrong your not the worst alliance, but you are what you are. As you said it youself. Bp ends in six days. Well see what happens then.

Edit: Yes people tend to talk alot of trash here especially toward the biggest alliances and people who make a academy day 1(They generally dont last.)
 

DeletedUser11157

Guest
I don't think MRA's necessarily have semi-experienced players or only recruit sub-par players. I think an MRA is just that: An alliance that recruits massive amounts of players
 

DeletedUser

Guest
Fair enough if you want to be broad about it. I was just merely giving my opinion of what most of the big mras compromise of. It takes atleast some experience to hold a alliance together.
 

DeletedUser10674

Guest
I agree with you atemius. I am not either the leader or founder, but i know what they are doing. I was opposing it too on the beginning their idea, but it came more clear aftet they explain me. So, let's see the comments of everybody and wish you all a good thanksgiving. TURKEYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY.

Julio
 

DeletedUser11157

Guest
Turkey, mashed potatoes, turkey, green beans, fried turkey, cranberries, TURKEY!
 

DeletedUser9287

Guest
sorry but in all my experiance even if its a group coming in from another world an alliance designated MRA usually goes under in the first 1-2 weeks of BP ending there are some though that do stick around but the numbers drop off alot and academies go away which is why i avoid them like the plauge
 

DeletedUser11481

Guest
The hatred of MRAs is as older than Grepolis. I would classify an alliance as a Mass Recruiter if they were to recruit players with no screening process whatsoever. I would actually go further to include those with only an easily achievable point requirement to join. The vilification of these alliances is well-warranted and documented throughout every world in Grepolis (every server) and Tribal Wars (every server). The fact of the matter is that even though some players may be well experienced, you have a multitude of risks that every leader must deal with - and many do so very poorly.
1. Inexperienced players - Its easy to talk a big game, but a lot of players lack the technical and practical knowledge of more experienced players. This is not easily mitigated, nor diagnosed during the long period of BP - especially so on worlds with an effective week of BP.
2. Spies/Informants - Because you don't know much about the people you are accepting into your alliance, these players are likely to betray the alliance should any moment of difficulty arise for them. And trust me, it will. These people do not know you, you do not know them - they will pursue self-interest more often than not.
3. The affinity for refugees - Refugees routinely join MRAs because they have standing invites. This causes wars, even if not in the short term. I often enact revenge long term on alliances that accept my refugees and threaten me when I inform them. While this is certainly entertaining for me, it puts the entire alliance in the crosshairs of all the reputable and decent players they have wronged by accepting refugees with open arms. This can be mitigated by a strict policy and a very good leader - but everyone has their limits.
4. Inactives - Inactives plague every world. Sending out invites on day one is the most surefire way to recruit inactive or underactive players.
5. Academy/Family Alliances - These are underhanded tactics - plain and simple. The alliance cap exists for a reason, circumventing it only highlights your inept experience and gaming style. This also forces you to split your true talent into separate alliances. I don't care how well your good players work together, they work together better when they are in the same alliance - not separate entities.
6. The illusion of power - MRAs exhibit delusions of grandeur. They think that because they dominate the world in points early on that this will translate into later successes. However, for the 5 reasons I have already mentioned, they are wrong. The leaders of these alliances often get pig ignorant to the fact that they stand little-to-no chance in a war - especially on a world without morale. This leads to more dissatisfaction and tension with the true elite alliances - and ultimately leads to an MRAs destruction or disseverment.

There is no end to why MRAs are terrible. Truly, there is no easier way to spot garbage than by seeing a large heap of it in the center of a room. Darwinism will persist on. The good players within MRAs will likely jump ship in time to save themselves - but this is little solace to those who sought refuge within the rank and file.

Time will prove me correct, yet again.
 

DeletedUser

Guest
Well done post Whisper. And as you well know, there are even more reasons why MRA's are not worth the paper they are printed on.

* The leader of an MRA often has to become a tyrant in order to get the others to go along with whatever plan they come up with because they have created for themselves a psychological, and command control problem. An effective fighting force is broken down into smaller groups. No squad has 70 men and no army puts one or two people in charge of 70 units directly. Why? Because it doesn't work. Because it doesn't work, the leader often has to threaten their own players as much as they do the enemy just to get the minimum of what is needed for any action and as usual, its a day late and a dollar short. Instead of the tight nit, efficient, fighting force that they pretend to have, they have created a bloated corporate monstrosity with chain of command problems, leadership voids, and logistical nightmares.

*Because they have filled rosters early in the game (usually with people spread all over the map) they have battles and skirmishes all over their lines. How effectively does one or two leaders in an MRA deal with this? Usually very poorly while pointing the finger at everyone else instead of themselves for creating the entire problem to begin with. Without good communication, half their own alliance wastes time fighting the wrong enemies, or even friendlies if the comms are really bad.

*Infighting and factions. Many MRA's add so many people so quickly that the groups have little to no optimum choices to expand too. The MRA invites anyone with any points at all up to 15 islands away from them such that the only expansion points left are 1200 point inactive players. Often they are told to pick on the weakest enemies that are around them because they are separated from the core and the larger choice targets are already spoken for by higher ups who can be half an ocean away from a choice target. This creates sub-factions within the corporate whole who know darn well that they have to fend for themselves quietly and off the radar if they really want to be in a good position later on down the road. Moral problems? Growth Problems? Animosity? You betcha!

.....Do we really need to go on? I guess so because still too many foolish people rush to gain numbers without realizing that numbers alone, are not an advantage.

If an MRA actually does clean up its act then what will it have to do?

1. Remove inactive people
2. Move or expand to form a core defense area
3. Boot inexperienced players to eliminate wasted hours of training people who are not an asset.
4. Create stringent join criteria
5. Remove large alliance wide totalitarian tactics and let your attack groups fire at will in small groups or on their own for greater efficiency, secrecy, and effect upon the enemy.

So what must eventually happen to all MRA if they want to win? They must cease to exist anymore as an MRA! Why does this never happen? It is because the fools who create MRA's do not have enough experience and intelligence to understand that it is a tactic of defeat and not a tactic of victory. MRA's are created by those who do not understand the warfare in Grepolis. It is the generals mistake, not a valid tactic. This is the reason why so many people create them, and the reason why they almost always fail. The general who creates an MRA rarely has the wisdom to change his or her ways timely enough and correctly enough to transform the MRA into a true alliance of effectiveness. It is a leadership problem. You can even calculate that anyone who joins one, also lacks greater knowledge of the game, or, does so only for temporary survival until a true alliance is found or created. The general who starts an alliance off as an MRA is creating for themselves and everyone else, an inefficient, ineffective, corporate monstrosity with sub-factions, disloyalty, and possibly infighting and much worse. It is akin to shooting yourself, and everyone else around you, in the foot before trying to march off to battle.
 
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DeletedUser

Guest
MRAs are only good so you can be #1 in the early weeks of a world.
But as people said earlier, they will fall apart, because they become impossible to maintain/control.
 

DeletedUser10179

Guest
that is something stogy would say, I am sure most of the alliance admits to it being an MRA, I am not saying the alliance is bad, its just I don't believe these founders sent over 100 messages + to players trying to get them to join. And I am sure the selectivity was terrible when recruiting anyways... I think they would recruit any player with more than than 800 points... still, when most players get 800 points the first day, just something to point out, other than that the alliance has some great players...
 

DeletedUser11560

Guest
But I'm just talking about the alliance itself, disregarding the academy. The alliance itself is good but if they remove their academy and bring over their better players to the actual alliance, then they'll be a threat to everyone else.

On the other hand, it's only the third day of the world, so who knows
 
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