Week 2 — The War Goes Everywhere

Last week, this one learned something important. A damage number tells only part of the story.

13 million damage sounds impressive until one asks where the bullets went.

Did they save a round? Did they arrive too late?

Did they help an ally? Did they disappear into a battle that was already lost?

Or did 528 of them accidentally go in the wrong direction?

This week, this one tried to be more careful.

Mostly. And somehow this one ended the week with an even larger number.

14,569,437 damage.

Across 35 different battles.

Yet if this one had to describe the week with a single image, it would not be a number.

It would be a map. With arrows going absolutely everywhere.

South America.

Africa.

Europe.

Middle East.

Caribbean.

One moment this one's scope was pointed toward Brazil.

The next, an Olive Union message arrived and this one was suddenly shooting somewhere thousands of kilometres away.

Week 1 had been about defending South Africa and beginning the counterattack.

Week 2?

The war went everywhere.

And this one followed.

Argentina Tries Again

The week began with unfinished business in South America.

Argentina had already attempted to push into Brazil.

Now came the second attempt.

https://app.warera.io/battle/6a82a1cc73afa2a4cbe1d51b

This one was ready.

Round 1 became extremely close.

The damage flowed from both sides and neither seemed willing to give way.

This one threw as much as possible into the fight while the damage buff remained active.

https://app.warera.io/country/683ddd2c24b5a2e114af1612 joined the push.

Slowly...

Barely...

The round was dragged across the line.

Victory.

Then came the inevitable consequence. The pill buff ended. The debuff arrived.

And this mighty Khajiit warrior was transformed into something considerably less intimidating.

This one was effectively finished for Round 2.

Fortunately, Argentina did not need the claws this time.

The second round proved easier.

2–0.

A successful start to the week—and 1,748,536 damage from this one.

More importantly, most of it had gone into the round where it actually mattered.

https://app.warera.io/user/697b55e4bcecf3b37667e0d1 would hopefully approve.

Africa Was Still Being Watched

South America may have increasingly become the destination for our counterattacks, but that did not mean its powers had stopped looking toward Africa.

Far from it.

https://app.warera.io/country/6873d0ea1758b40e712b5f49 became one of the recurring points of pressure.

First came https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d446e731854c7ac7a8.

https://app.warera.io/battle/6a827c46b04953350a3df82e

https://app.warera.io/country/6873d0ea1758b40e712b5f1c became the strike point as we attempted to prevent https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d446e731854c7ac7a8 from establishing another foothold into Africa.

This one contributed 118,039 damage.

Not one of the week's great performances.

But enough to answer the call.

Later, the threat came from https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d546e731854c7ac858.

https://app.warera.io/battle/6a88e9ece5cc81d9b0045b0f

Again, https://app.warera.io/country/6873d0ea1758b40e712b5f1c was involved.

Again, https://app.warera.io/country/6873d0ea1758b40e712b5f49 was the battleground.

This time the objective was to stop https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d546e731854c7ac858 expansion back toward Africa.

This one put another 640,702 damage into the attempt.

And https://app.warera.io/country/6873d0ea1758b40e712b5f49 was not the only front.

https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d546e731854c7ac858 pushed toward https://app.warera.io/battle/6a8a4a037a35cbffac8dca5f.

This one joined the defence.

Then toward the French https://app.warera.io/battle/6a8b3ef8e017598c46a74d92 in South America.

Again, this one's scope found them.

It increasingly felt as though https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d546e731854c7ac858 and this one had developed an unfortunate habit of arriving at the same places.

The DRC Returns

Then came another familiar enemy.

https://app.warera.io/country/6873d0ea1758b40e712b5f28.

The revolt arrived with support from a buffed https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d446e731854c7ac7aa, itself increasingly active around Africa through https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d546e731854c7ac848, https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d546e731854c7ac84b and https://app.warera.io/country/6873d0ea1758b40e712b5ee9.

https://app.warera.io/battle/6a8ab57f43a4f1e146ae4c41

This was not a small commitment.

Binya poured 1,412,726 damage into the defence.

The https://app.warera.io/country/6873d0ea1758b40e712b5f28 pressure was back. https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d446e731854c7ac7aa was back.

And once again, the struggle over who would shape Africa had returned to this one's scope.

The answer did not end with defence.

https://app.warera.io/country/6873d0ea1758b40e712b5f73 counterattacked into https://app.warera.io/country/6873d0ea1758b40e712b5f28.

https://app.warera.io/battle/6a8b77f12c4f69d045687624

The objective was not necessarily some glorious march across the map.

Sometimes strategy is simply about making the other side deal with another problem.

Delay the expansion. Force resources elsewhere.

Make them fight for what they just gained.

This one added another 712,313 damage to the counterattack.

The battlefield may have been lost.

But not every attack exists only to colour the map.

Bring Out the Tank

And then...

Brazil's capital appeared in this one's scope again.

https://app.warera.io/battle/6a852c490721a877f46c46a7

The situation felt almost like a reversal of the previous week.

https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d546e731854c7ac82f and https://app.warera.io/country/6873d0ea1758b40e712b5f79 had exchanged roles in this strange continental struggle.

The first attack on the Brazilian capital was underway.

This one considered the situation carefully.

There are moments for precision. There are moments for carefully timed bursts of damage.

There are moments for preserving equipment.

And then there are moments when the correct tactical decision is obvious.

Dust off the tank.

The hamster climbed into the driver's position.

This one climbed in beside him.

1,637,864 damage.

And this one started blasting.

Unfortunately...

Even tanks have limits.

The attack failed 0–2.

But this one has no regrets. Sometimes the capital falls.

Sometimes you drive a tank toward it with a hamster and discover the enemy brought more ammunition.

Such is war.

Everyone Starts Looking Toward Brazil

Meanwhile, something had changed in South America.

Only a week earlier, https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d546e731854c7ac82f had been looking toward Africa.

Now...

Everyone seemed to be looking toward https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d546e731854c7ac82f.

https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d546e731854c7ac832's ambitions grew. Another border region was no longer enough.

The capital became the target.

https://app.warera.io/battle/6a869ef5704ead57b37da0be

If the capital could fall, perhaps the whole of Brazil could be brought down with it.

This one committed heavily.

1,561,635 damage.

The attack succeeded.

2–0.

This was no distraction.

No handful of shots fired before moving elsewhere.

This one had committed, and this time the result followed.

Unfortunately for https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d546e731854c7ac82f...

A Brief Tournament Detour

Somewhere among all of this, WarEra politely reminded us that there was also a Country Tournament happening.

This one had mostly ignored it. There were actual wars to fight.

But the final offered something useful.

Victory meant a +75 damage boost for the winning team.

That could help the hunt. There was also another small detail.

https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d446e731854c7ac7aa was on the opposing team.

Suddenly this one found the tournament considerably more interesting.

https://app.warera.io/country/683ddd2c24b5a2e114af1612 fought hard.

We contributed 36.76 million damage, around 22% of our team's 164.5 million.

That sounds respectable. Then one looks at https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d446e731854c7ac7aa.

107.73 million.

Approximately 43% of their team's 250.57 million damage.

This one suspects https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d446e731854c7ac7aa may also have wanted that bonus.

Our team lost.

No +75.

No glorious tournament victory.

And an awful lot of Portuguese ammunition was apparently fired in our direction.

Sometimes the hunt does not go according to plan.

Five Battles at Once

The tournament final did not cause the real war to politely stop.

South America remained active.

Five different battles demanded attention around the same period:

https://app.warera.io/battle/6a83332e6b8cad44d8f5be06

https://app.warera.io/battle/6a8352f57408e57043d0c0b6

https://app.warera.io/battle/6a83e2b5fa9690c305e226a5

https://app.warera.io/battle/6a83e1559e01216c25d48751

https://app.warera.io/battle/6a8404d6635447693e80b478

This one did not simply choose one and dump everything into it.

The damage moved. Where was the lead threatened?

Where could another burst help? Which battlefield needed claws now?

Fire. Check. Move. Fire again.

Perhaps this is the lesson this one has learned most clearly since beginning these weekly journals.

Scattered damage is not necessarily wasted damage.

Sometimes it means someone was watching five battlefields and putting the next shot where it was needed most.

When the Olive Union Calls

Not every battle this week belonged directly to https://app.warera.io/country/683ddd2c24b5a2e114af1612 immediate war.

Several times, the orders came from elsewhere. And this one's scope followed.

https://app.warera.io/country/683ddd2c24b5a2e114af15c3 sought expansion to secure strategic resources and stronger production bonuses, helping build its role as an economic supporter of its allies.

This one answered.

https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d446e731854c7ac7a2 sought additional regions as it attempted to strengthen itself as an economic hub.

This one answered.

https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d446e731854c7ac7e5 required assistance defending against https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d546e731854c7ac899

Again...This one answered.

Then there was https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d446e731854c7ac7a2 itself. Its core regions had come under pressure.

Naples needed defending against https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d446e731854c7ac7f5.

Elsewhere another Italian core defence turned into a hard fight that ultimately ended in defeat.

The week had not been kind to https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d446e731854c7ac7a2.

Ground had been lost.

So when https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d446e731854c7ac7a2 and https://app.warera.io/alliance/6a2965afbc253b28fcf0d1c7 called for assistance as they attempted to regain momentum and expand their reach...

https://app.warera.io/country/683ddd2c24b5a2e114af1612 responded.

And so did this one.

https://app.warera.io/battle/6a8805e29302028de88b44ae

By the time the firing stopped, Binya had dealt:

1,989,318 damage.

The largest single-battle contribution of the entire week.

Not in defence of https://app.warera.io/country/683ddd2c24b5a2e114af1612. Not against https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d546e731854c7ac82f.

Not in some personal rivalry. For an ally who called for help.

Sometimes this one's scope points toward https://app.warera.io/country/683ddd2c24b5a2e114af1612 enemies.

Sometimes it points wherever our friends need another rifle.

Familiar Faces Through the Scope

Something else became noticeable this week. With this one's scope travelling between Africa, South America, Europe, the Middle East and wherever else the orders pointed...

The same people kept appearing beside this one.

https://app.warera.io/user/68eb7935fe26838752278ac7 was frequently there.

This is perhaps unsurprising.We belong to the same Military Unit.

When the orders arrive, our weapons tend to point in similar directions.

Then there is https://app.warera.io/user/691ee08ac6bbe2053f42c6bd.

Another member of this one's Military Unit and https://app.warera.io/country/683ddd2c24b5a2e114af1612 Minister of Defense.

Again...Not particularly mysterious.

If anyone should know where https://app.warera.io/country/683ddd2c24b5a2e114af1612 is supposed to be shooting, one hopes the Minister of Defense is among them.

But there is another face this one keeps noticing.

https://app.warera.io/user/69f0d88d81a255ea6e9cbc65.

https://app.warera.io/user/69f0d88d81a255ea6e9cbc65 does not always appear beside this one on the leaderboards.

Khajiit has had more time to grow stronger, climb the ranks and acquire increasingly irresponsible equipment.

But our pill cycles appear strangely aligned. When this one's buff activates...

When Khajiit opens the battle list looking for somewhere useful to put the next few hours of damage...

https://app.warera.io/user/69f0d88d81a255ea6e9cbc65 is very often there. Another battlefield. Another country. Another front.

This one looks across the fighting.

Ah.

https://app.warera.io/user/69f0d88d81a255ea6e9cbc65 again.

At this point, Khajiit suspects we may share a timetable.

35 Battles... But Only a Few Truly Mattered

The final numbers tell an interesting story.

35 battles.

14,569,437 damage.

More damage than Week 1.

But this one did not distribute that damage evenly.

The five largest battles alone accounted for roughly 8.35 million damage.

More than half the entire week. Those were the moments when the timing, orders and pill cycle aligned.

When this one could truly commit. At the other end of the spectrum...

There were some less impressive interventions.

Several battlefields received only a handful of shots.

In one, this one dealt 112 damage.

This one refuses to describe 112 damage as a strategic intervention.

Perhaps Khajiit entered. Fired once. Looked around.

Decided everyone seemed to have matters under control. And left.

Altogether, the battles below 100,000 damage contributed only around 93,000 damage.

Less than 1% of the week's total.

So while this one's name appeared across the map...

The real fighting was concentrated.

Week 2 — Through This One's Scope

Total Damage: 14,569,437

Battles Fought: 35

Largest Single Battle: 1,989,318 — answering Italy and the Olive Union's call

Other Major Commitments: Argentina's push into Brazil, multiple attacks involving Brazil's capital, the DRC revolt, and the struggle to keep Venezuela and other powers from expanding their reach into Africa.

Most Khajiit Moment: Dusting off the tank and climbing in beside the hamster driver for another attack on Brazil's capital.

Familiar Faces: https://app.warera.io/user/68eb7935fe26838752278ac7, https://app.warera.io/user/691ee08ac6bbe2053f42c6bd and seemingly whenever this one's pill timer says it is time to fighthttps://app.warera.io/user/69f0d88d81a255ea6e9cbc65.

Damage below 100k battles: Barely 0.64% of the week's total.

Friendly Fire:

...

None worth reporting.

This one believes this represents tremendous personal growth.

🐾 What This One Learned

Week 1 was about survival. https://app.warera.io/country/683ddd2c24b5a2e114af1612 had been under pressure.

https://app.warera.io/country/6873d0ea1758b40e712b5f28 and its allies attacked. https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d546e731854c7ac82f and https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d546e731854c7ac858 looked toward Africa.

The counterattacks began.

Week 2 felt different.

https://app.warera.io/country/683ddd2c24b5a2e114af1612 Africa could breathe enough to look beyond its own borders.

Our allies called. We answered. Our enemies tried to establish themselves in Africa.

We pushed back. And increasingly...

The fighting travelled in the other direction.

Toward South America. This one began the week helping https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d546e731854c7ac832 force its way into https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d546e731854c7ac82f.

This one ended it having fired across Africa, Europe, the Middle East and South America.

Somewhere in between, Khajiit fought tournaments, defended allies, chased strategic bonuses, followed https://app.warera.io/alliance/6a2965afbc253b28fcf0d1c7 orders, drove a tank with a hamster and discovered that https://app.warera.io/user/69f0d88d81a255ea6e9cbc65 apparently follows the same medication schedule.

Perhaps that is what this journal is beginning to show.

The weekly damage number is interesting.

The rank is interesting. But the number alone cannot tell this story.

14.57 million damage does not tell you where this one's scope was pointed.

The battles do. And this week...

This one's scope seemed to point everywhere.

Until next week. The rifle is cleaned.

The tank has been returned to wherever the hamster found it.

The pill timer continues to tick. And somewhere upon the map...

This one suspects another battle is already beginning.

May your roads lead to warm sands. 🐾