Now We Are Twelve
Four Raids of February: A Foursome![hr][/hr]SPECIAL | Lieutenant TyegëaDEN marched forth on tagger’s fields with ruthless efficiency, leaving behind a trail of destruction as we bore our blue-and-gold banners high. Four regions fell to our sword this very month, with many more yet to come.
The Bulldog, a beloved pet to many, was the first on our hitlist. Corporal Tom Vasentius was our on-call veterinarian, and we must say he... “fixed” it. The only liberation attempt was repelled with ease, and we continued on with the procedure. Mind you, it’s always a good idea to spay or neuter your pets, preferably under general anaestethic and by a veterinarian. Anyway, when the procedure was completed and the proper post-operative care measures were taken, we called it a day and moved on.
Next on the list was NeoConfederate States of America. Sergeant Liddell Hart led the march, trampling upon the land of stars and stripes, with the controversy and uproar behind the Confederate flag taking a back seat for now as The Kingdom of Great Britain’s Imperial Navy sailed alongside us. But then the founder came back, and with it, our party was deported to The Rejected Realms, where we had to make do with their barbeques.
Third time lucky? I think not! St. Abbaddon was secured a second time, much to the chagrin of the displaced natives, whose liberation proposal did little to save their home. Major Gladio took the reins this time as he held the delegacy with an iron grip, unrelenting and unbroken in the face of widespread condemnation. And while we were holding in St. Abbaddon...
...for our 12th Anniversary, General Knot led Anarchy to order a second time! Mind you, the natives were quite the rowdy ones, and didn’t quite get the concept of order and discipline, so they revolted, naturally. With quite a few Molotovs flying around and our troops and allies donning riot gear (and overclocking coffee machines) to crack down on hooligans late at night, we hold our ground to this day.
All in all, February has been our most active month in terms of occupations in this reincarnation of DEN, and we are all proud to have been a part of it. Last but not least, a shout-out goes to all our allies who helped us through each step of the way.
The Triumph of DEN Tag Raiding: Resurgence in the New Era[hr][/hr]HISTORY | Captain Varax
On November 23, 2015 the mechanics of NationStates saw significant changes. As opposed to the previous era, Delegates now lost their position and with it executive powers immediately upon resigning from the World Assembly. Many declared that tag raiding would be killed off, or at least extremely limited in the number of hits that could be achieved in a single update. There were some that suggested that tagging would now have to be done during the update. Ideas such auto-fillers were briefly tested to facilitate such tagging, and many declared that runs wouldn’t see much higher than 20 hits for single team updates.
However, the recent introduction of regional officers provided alternatives. “Team tagging” was one method tested by tag raiders early on, where several raider puppets were appointed as regional officers (vice-delegates at the time) to tag during the update. Team tagging though proved to be too slow, and never saw hit counts exceed 20 hits per update. Thus began the shift of tactics, with the point nation making only themselves a regional officer, and then switching to leave tagging to be done after the update. Under this method, tag raiders again saw hit counts climb above 30 throughout mid-December last year.
As the new year came, DEN updaters strove to hit new highs in tag raiding under the current rules. Goals were set and soon met for runs to focus on such things as training, tactics, speed and Delegate hits. Activity began to increase throughout mid-January as new triggers led the way for DEN updater forces, eager to bring tag raiding back to new heights.
One tactic that became common for high hit count runs was increased use of the rope system, where the point would alternate between two people, each of whom would skip one target to be ready to point immediately for the next. Widespread use of the rope system helped to negate the extra time it took for points to appoint themselves regional officers and dismiss incumbent native ROs.
Using this tactic on the January 29 major update allowed DEN forces to get 39 hits, at the time a best under the new rules. This was soon surpassed by runs of 46, 48 and 51 hits. The 51 hit run on the February 11 major achieved by Varax, Knot, Vaculatestar and Sentinel Optik surpassed the DEN record of 50 which had been set on May 27, 2015 major under the old rule system and proved that tag raiding and truly returned in force – in spite of all obstacles raiders will continue to achieve new highs. This count was quickly shattered during the February 12 minor in a raid that achieved 64 hits in an effort led by Sergeant Chingis, alongside Corporals Wintony and Panzer Vier, and two mercs.
To achieve this, subteams were used effectively, giving two teams with one trigger and rope used within those teams to provide additional speed. Subsequent tag runs included hit counts of 49, 55, 51 and 48, and on the February 26 minor, 65 hits were achieved, again led by Chingis using the subteam system, setting yet another new record. The continued effectiveness of these methods stands as a testament to the staying power of DEN forces as high hit count runs surpassing 40 hits became the new standard.
Increased focus on recruitment and training along with the leadership of a new group of triggers provided a large surge in the number of updaters present for raids. It was not uncommon to see eight or even nine DEN updaters available for a single raid during February. These raids focusing on Delegate hits saw huge results as well, as runs of 23, 21 and 21 WA Delegates being hit were achieved. It was not uncommon to see Delegates with three, four and even five endorsements fall during routine tag raids.
The effectiveness of cultivation during training missions has provided a large pool of talented updaters to call upon, and increased overall activity and efficacy by a substantial degree. The large group of skilled forces has directly lent itself to the success of large scale DEN operations. The activity of DEN update forces have ensured that raids are carried out at almost every update, with a large pool of available triggers to help lead them.
As we see new changes again being brought to the game, this time with instant issues, some again have wondered what the future would hold for tag raiding. Once again, the challenge has already been answered and met as soon after the new changes were implemented, as DEN forces have already achieved over 40 hits following these changes.
Over 2,000 regions were tagged by DEN forces since the start of January 2016, and this was made possible with the efforts of the following people:
Field Marshal Gest | General Knot | Brigadier-General 94 Block
Major Gladio | Major Miss Hungary | Captain Varax | Lieutenant North Pacific Spy
Lieutenant The Type 49 TARDIS | Lieutenant Vaculatestar | Lieutenant We Are Not the NSA
Sergeant ChingisOtchigin | Sergeant Liddell Hart | Sergeant Tom Vasentius
Corporal East Jesus Nowhere | Corporal Joshbly | Corporal Kolbaser I | Corporal Panzer Vier
Corporal Sentinel Optik | Corporal SirZane | Corporal Snake007 | Corporal Tyrinth
Corporal Wintony | Corporal Queen Yuno
PFC Clearer | PFC Crossplains | PFC Fem Regioner | PFC Francis | PFC IggyIsKawaii | PFC Kerguelen
PFC Le Chant de La Cloche | PFC Mjolltrux | PFC Ostrax | PFC Raskya | PFC Socio Polor
PFC Socker-bit | PFC Sygian Vasentius | PFC Vukmire | PFC Weathergeakal
Private Orklandz