what is the generally accepted etiquette when it comes to retaliating a land grab by someone with significantly more networth/land? naturally the retaliation is likely to result in significantly greater gains over what was lost.

Who would R the R to balance the loss? or is it just taken as an acceptable risk to bottom feeding?

In general Express is a roughhouse and it is every man for himself; there is no etiquette.

That said the clan policies from Alliance are deeply imbued in some folk which leads them to get cross if their retaliation gets RoRed. So the person who RoRs sensibly needs to ask themselves first how much they will care if the RoR results in a war.

Someone please sticky this.

hrmm lol!! you know furious is fazer right? look into his earth history before considering his opinion too highly.
(no offense fazer, but it's pretty bad when you have to change handles lulz)

wrecking ball - for starters, as absurd as it is to apply the term 'etiquette' to such an uncivil environment, it is a term that has always been used in earth (since the 90s, actually)

and while it is true that express is chaotic and indeed every man for himself, there are important qualifications to make when saying "there is no etiquette". for instance, there is certainly etiquette between two netgainers that hope to finish in the t5 but of course there isn't so much between the war types that actually play express just to get into conflict. there are, however, war types who sit around and are STAUNCH ADVOCATES OF PROPER SERVER ETIQUETTE ... i.e. guys who let 50 people on the server tap them once, but as soon as someone taps them twice, they drop the gloves. gets kind of annoying but frankly I respect that. at least they follow a code that can be learned and identified (which makes for better gameplay)

so yes it is also true that departure from etiquette (again this is just a term that has always been used here to refer to overgrabs, unwarranted suicides and the like, but it does not fluffing refer to the actual concept of general etiquette. in fact, my social etiquette in game is quite poor, but my SERVER ETIQUETTE is exemplary, imo) is a calculated risk.

and you will find rare occasions to break this server etiquette, but as a general rule of thumb don't go out of your way looking for excuses to do it. you'll end up being a scrappy express player which is like bench players on a JV high school volleyball team that has a bad varsity team to begin with.

-if you are grabbed once, grab once back.
-if the grab is a blatant topfeed - drop the gloves imo.
-if you are RoRed (someone grabs you, you successfully retal the grab and the guy grabs you again, after your retal) drop the gloves unless you have a decent set and want to let some twerp get away with that (which most of us don't)
-if you are 2:1'd on a non topfeed (i.e. you grab someone and they retal twice) drop the gloves

retal!

yes, in short, retal! :p

Retal!

Vic, thanks for taking the time to offer a detailed response/opinion on the subject.

I think I have developed a general grasp of the "etiquette" or more accurately how not to act to avoid the risk of getting flattened by someone for breaking there personal code of conduct.

In my case I was happy just all exploring and improving my net gaining tactics this set but the actions of others always dictate how our sets develop (that ultimately what makes the game so enjoyable and unpredictable!).

in the case of my original question/subject, I wasn't sure if gaining net 1800 acres in a 1:1 retal (including ghost acres) would have received retribution. in this particular case I seem to escaped such treatment (this time!!)

Here are my retals:
2015-02-01 13:13:08 PS Rock Lobster (#113) pats didnt cheat (#94) 1813A (2574A)
2015-02-01 06:21:30 PS Rock Lobster (#113) Crimson (#18) 1136A (1681A)
2015-02-01 04:20:23 PS Rock Lobster (#113) cheekynation (#36) 637A (1024A)
2015-02-01 02:09:28 PS Rock Lobster (#113) (#98) 1526A (2247A)
2015-02-01 00:01:37 PS Rock Lobster (#113) polar express (#63) 792A (1299A)

Retal!

It all depends on whether or not you care about:

1) how you finish
2) what other people think about you
3) the targets temper

I hate when people go all jetter just to take a retal, that will get you killed (in my book).

I just got hit for almost 2k acres for a grab which yielded me 150 acres 2 days ago.. Normally, thats enough to set me off, but the guy is a casher and can still make use of the land, and he didnt go balls out on jets and leave himself vulnerable, and im having a good week and dont want to risk war.

Now im just thinking aloud, basically do whatever the fluff you want, the set only lasts a week so if you get screwed over, just shrug your shoulders and try again next week.

Damn you Getafix.

hehe buttman, when you see the rock lobster name ... move away! getafix will always nab you.
interestingly enough, me and getafix met ingame after he made a poor grab on me. it was a great deal of fun, and cordial the whole time - he watched me hunt him the whole set and of course I nabbed him with a huge retal towards the end :p
but both he and I were gentlemanly about it and there was some great convo as he watched me running my turns and realized I would be able to get him :p

Yes i try to avoid people i know will retal, this isnt my first run in with him!

I see your point Buttman, I've noticed jet heavy countries through a few spy ops with very few turrets.

I got hit early on for a 100 - 200 acres by someone riding high now with a lot of acres, but my attention was taken away from a retal at the time, now would seem miss placed.

Today is a different matter however, if I get hit, I would much rather respond in kind.

You meet good friends by retalling :)

pats didn't cheat (#94) sent me this message: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qf_LzWQ0jpI

Which one was you Buttman? Not Polar Express who double tapped me and who I walled on the second? Ha ha! Rock Lobster returns. But what a crappy set for tech, I'll be lucky to get $20m NW on my 20k acres.

That was an great game Vic. I had just started playing again after a year or so off, and Vic chased me up the scoreboard for about 4 hours until he finally put me out of my misery at 4:00am or so. We had a good talk while we were doing that.

I sent you that message :p.. "Yea.. You're gonna be ok" lol

So! The illiterate essayists have learned something! But, sadly, how to be a bottom feeding commie, haha

Yes, its a bitter thing, and to be honest not very fun. Their next essay is entitled 'Fruit From A Poisonous Tree' accordingly.

If you don't want to be retaled than don't attack anyone, plain and simple. Everyone is entitled to have the chance to defend themselves in this game and take back which is theres. If you lose more than you gained, just remember that you were the offender in the first place. Let that be a lesson that when you grab someone. Expect a retal and expect it to hurt.

Btw is was probably me that retaled you. I already been duking it out with some idiot who will not except my retals. I just BS'ed bout 3k land from him in harmful spy ops. Have fun rebuilding you freak.

Are you a lawyer Buttman? I would not have guessed it.

I would have guessed Theologian

I am neither, although i do have a degree in criminology for all the good it does me.

Awesome, you must find a lot to study here

+10

Kill the ones who kill others

Come get some, I'm #112 and I refuse to dai, it's 3v1 now, HELP THE CUCUMBERS!!!!!

THREE TO ONE!!! The bastards. You'd think it was Alliance.

Now love to help you out, KoH. Certainty of death, small chance of success - what are we waiting for, that sort of thing. But yaknow, it's Sunday, and there's stuff to sell and, well, I did say I'd sort out my sock drawer; oh and WE AREN'T MEANT TO CO-OPERATE OR INVITE CO-OPERATION; somebody said.

So another time, OK? Hope everything goes well with you. :)

I don't need help, they do!!!!

Hey asshole, I said F U C K YOU in another thread yesterday, F U C K OFF already

I want to hear more about the rivalry of golf clubs

No I don't. I don't see why it matters when the context of his message is truthful.

The content was subjective, so it does matter, currydubs.

It matters when we both have the same opinion? Sure thing bud.

always double R the R!

Apparently some people think retal'ing a SS with a PS 3 hours later is an unfair retal.

LOL!

Nicely put, Vic.

"etiquette", heh. LOL

I'd also like to point out a flaw in your logic.

"Topfeeding"

ROFLMAO. There is no such thing in my book. If you are FAT and in my scores list, that would make you a target, not a "topfeed".

You don't have to like, it, but if I landgrab some FAT guy, who thinks that alliance server "etiquette" is going to stop me from destroying his game after he decides to drop the gloves, well, then, you are completely missing the point of having such a simple way of playing as I like to do.

I'm not out to get to the top of the "rankings". I'm just out to have a good time, and if you come along and rain on my parade using some excuse like "etiquette". i'm not even going to pretend to have table manners, I'm going to come at you like a straight Viking.

I hope my weekend opens up some and these panks get fat so I can make some nice retals...

2015-02-06 22:41:46 SS flatland (#79) Hatchet Underground (#21) 154A (278A)

2015-02-06 20:07:26 PS SOIL GROWN TOMATO sup bepulse (#50) Hatchet Underground (#21) 323A (474A)

2015-02-06 19:18:09 PS polar express (#1) Hatchet Underground (#21) 240A (423A)

2015-02-06 18:54:52 PS Where The Shadows Lie (#37) Hatchet Underground (#21) DH

I'm coming for you poons!

There speaks an Express player (Cerberus, I mean, although Xninja seems to be pretty well in the swing of things too). :)

thanks for the warning Xninja, I think I will go on a crash diet now :-)

1 failed retal :(, what I get for rushing it while at work :/, meh, top 50 here I come....

A chance to see good etiquette here

PS Feb 7, 03:18 Oh no you didnt (#40) Thunder Group (#72) 299 A
PS Feb 7, 03:56 Thunder Group (#72) Oh no you didnt (#40) 1517 A


edit:

And in the event, excellent etiquette. No RoR and both players going about their business.

VERY pretty retal. Congrats to #72. :)

I finally was able to show my proper express etiquette for bottom feeding!

1.9 days ago A brigade from flatland (#79) has invaded your lands! Their forces broke through your defences! They took: 154 Acres (278 Gained) 205 Buildings (76 Stolen) 97 Bushels $83,099 66 Technology Points

Hope it was worth it.... :p

2015-02-08 19:02:09 PS Hatchet Underground (#21) flatland (#79) 2138A (3131A)

NoM noM Nom!

Yummilicious retal bro haha 👍

Thank you, thank you :)

Ill get bottom fed next set any ways though :(, maybe I finish top 30 this set :/, I don't have enough time to dedicate to proper hitting to keep on the top :/

Expensive 278 acres there :-) first set as commy, really enjoying the learning curve...... Bit sore after last few hours though!

Well stated. More or less reflects my view of Express and the game as a whole, in if for a good time. I have a country to lead and ever growing number of people wanting to participate under my vision of a nation (and let's not kid ourselves the majority of people in other countries dream of such a visionary as well) and some fool wants a piece of my action....

Me gun goes click, me gun goes bang....

Spare me the crying on how I was supposed to act and stay clear of me next set. Your people will thank you.