Sometimes the Best Shot Is the One You Don't Take

Another week. Another collection of passports that probably needs explaining.

Another 10.8 million damage scattered across Africa, South America, the Middle East, Europe and anywhere else somebody decided that right now was an excellent time to start a war.

This one has begun to suspect there is a conspiracy against Khajiit's pill schedule.

Week Three was different, though.

There were certainly big battles. This one emptied magazines, dragged out the better equipment and, on several occasions, discovered that apparently one million damage is what friendship costs these days.

But the lesson of the week was not how much damage this one could deal.

It was where to deal it.

Sometimes an enemy barely resisted, so Khajiit packed up and went somewhere useful.

Sometimes allies needed exactly enough damage to finish a battle.

Sometimes the objective was not to end a battle at all—but to keep the damned thing going.

And sometimes this one arrived under the dreaded debuff, looked toward https://app.warera.io/country/6873d0ea1758b40e712b5f28 and decided:

One scratch.

273 damage.

There. Khajiit has helped.

Welcome back to the war from this one's scope.

Central Africa — Old Enemies, Old Friends

Strangely enough, the theatre where this one dealt the most damage this week began with an old enemy.

Yesterday's Enemy

The 25th was quiet.

This is a deeply suspicious occurrence in WarEra.

https://app.warera.io/country/683ddd2c24b5a2e114af1612 was not desperately defending something. Our allies were not screaming for several million damage. There were no urgent orders dragging this one between three continents.

So https://app.warera.io/country/683ddd2c24b5a2e114af1612 looked around for somewhere useful to point the guns.

And found...

https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d546e731854c7ac86e.

Ah.

This one remembers when pointing guns at https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d546e731854c7ac86e required considerably less explanation.

https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d546e731854c7ac86e and https://app.warera.io/country/683ddd2c24b5a2e114af1612 have spent plenty of time on opposite sides, but there are local https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d546e731854c7ac86e players there, while https://app.warera.io/country/6873d0ea1758b40e712b5f16 was under Romanian control. There were also strategic reasons to begin creating opportunities for future cooperation and future battles.

So yesterday's enemies found themselves temporarily on the same side. This one committed heavily.

https://app.warera.io/battle/6a8d5473af59d164a7e30c2a

1,155,196 damage.

The attack ultimately failed 1–2, but perhaps the territory was not the only thing being fought for.

WarEra has a funny way of changing relationships.

Today's enemy may be tomorrow's ally. Today's ally may be invading you next Tuesday.

Khajiit recommends keeping the address book updated.

Make Portugal Look Over Here

A few days later, https://app.warera.io/country/683ddd2c24b5a2e114af15fa rose against Portuguese occupation.

This time the purpose was twofold. Help https://app.warera.io/country/683ddd2c24b5a2e114af15fa? Certainly.

But https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d446e731854c7ac7aa was fighting elsewhere too.

Every fighter https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d446e731854c7ac7aa had to send toward https://app.warera.io/country/683ddd2c24b5a2e114af15fa was a fighter who could not be sent somewhere else.

https://app.warera.io/battle/6a912cb421edac8e135ce522

So this one added 257,002 damage to the revolt.

Sometimes damage exists to win the battle in front of you.

Sometimes damage exists to make the enemy turn their head.

Look here, https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d446e731854c7ac7aa

Yes. Here.

Please ignore whatever our friends are doing behind you.

Old Friends Are Not Forgotten

Then came https://app.warera.io/country/683ddd2c24b5a2e114af15bd.

There had apparently been whispers that https://app.warera.io/country/683ddd2c24b5a2e114af1612 no longer supported its old friends there.

This one dislikes whispers. They are difficult to shoot.

Fortunately, https://app.warera.io/country/6873d0ea1758b40e712b5f16 was occupying https://app.warera.io/region/683ddd3d36dbc90b7804747f.

That provided a much simpler method of communication.

https://app.warera.io/country/683ddd2c24b5a2e114af15bd revolted. https://app.warera.io/country/683ddd2c24b5a2e114af1612 answered.

https://app.warera.io/battle/6a9282a4ac27796ab3806830

This one dealt:

1,415,153 damage.

The Ethiopian capital was liberated 2–0.

Perhaps there are more eloquent ways to reassure an old friend.

Khajiit could have written a letter. Perhaps sent flowers.

Instead this one helped put 1.4 million damage into the people occupying their capital.

The message was roughly the same.

https://app.warera.io/country/683ddd2c24b5a2e114af1612 remembers its friends.

Central/Eastern Africa would ultimately consume 2.83M of this one's damage, more than any other theatre this week.

Some of it went toward possible new friendships.

Some toward very old ones.

This one thinks there is something appropriate about that.

Middle East — When Iraq Calls

https://app.warera.io/country/683ddd2c24b5a2e114af15c3 appeared repeatedly in this one's scope this week.

At first, unfortunately, they had competition. On 24 August https://app.warera.io/country/683ddd2c24b5a2e114af160f attacked https://app.warera.io/country/683ddd2c24b5a2e114af15c3.

https://app.warera.io/country/683ddd2c24b5a2e114af1612 received the call.

https://app.warera.io/battle/6a8c30357a35cbffac49ec01

This one answered and managed 438,259 damage.

There was only one slight problem.

Almost simultaneously, https://app.warera.io/country/6873d0ea1758b40e712b5f28 attacked https://app.warera.io/country/683ddd2c24b5a2e114af1612.

A strategically important https://app.warera.io/country/683ddd2c24b5a2e114af1612 region was under threat while an old ally also needed assistance.

Khajiit has only one rifle.

This seems like poor planning. So the damage was divided, with the larger share naturally going toward defending home.

https://app.warera.io/country/683ddd2c24b5a2e114af15c3 lost. The following day https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d546e731854c7ac8e0 came for them.

Another call. Another trip.

https://app.warera.io/battle/6a8df9fe3ff6ff10c27c6efc

Another 569,063 damage.

No dramatic story this time. No great personal motivation.

An ally asked for help.

This one went. Sometimes that is the entire story.

Taking It Back

By the 27th, https://app.warera.io/country/683ddd2c24b5a2e114af15c3 was attacking https://app.warera.io/country/683ddd2c24b5a2e114af160f.

A region had been lost earlier and now it was time to take it back.

Orders arrived. This one followed them.

https://app.warera.io/battle/6a8fecd5a75d63a1df2b262a

85,803 damage.

https://app.warera.io/country/683ddd2c24b5a2e114af15c3 won 2–0.

Again, nothing particularly heroic.

Khajiit has noticed that most wars contain considerably more “go here and shoot this” than the history books admit.

Then They Came for Baghdad

The situation changed on the 29th.

https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d546e731854c7ac8a6 attacked https://app.warera.io/country/683ddd2c24b5a2e114af15c3

https://app.warera.io/battle/6a9346e3b391cfcefdee9b82.

And this time the target was the capital.

There are battles where this one wonders how much damage is appropriate.

This was not one of them. https://app.warera.io/country/683ddd2c24b5a2e114af15c3 has stood beside https://app.warera.io/country/683ddd2c24b5a2e114af1612 for a long time.

Their capital was threatened.

So everyone went in. This one included.

1,413,553 damage.

No clever diversion. No carefully measured closing damage.

No conserving ammunition for later.

Just:

https://app.warera.io/country/683ddd2c24b5a2e114af15c3 needs us.

Go.

Across the week, the Middle East absorbed 2.51M damage from this one's rifle.

Apparently friendship remains expensive.

West Africa — Push Them Back Out

This one would like to clarify something about the war in West Africa.

We are not trying to stop Portugal from entering Africa.

That particular ship has sailed.

Quite far inland, somehow.

https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d446e731854c7ac7aa currently occupies https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d546e731854c7ac848, https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d546e731854c7ac84b, https://app.warera.io/country/6873d0ea1758b40e712b5ee9, https://app.warera.io/country/6873d0ea1758b40e712b5ef1 and parts of https://app.warera.io/country/683ddd2c24b5a2e114af15fa.

Meanwhile https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d546e731854c7ac858 has repeatedly tried to establish and maintain its own position around https://app.warera.io/country/6873d0ea1758b40e712b5f49 and threaten https://app.warera.io/region/6873d11494e6b3b7989a4c02.

So the objective is no longer:

Keep them out.

It is:

Push them back out.

Cape Verde

On 26 August https://app.warera.io/country/6873d0ea1758b40e712b5eef attacked https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d546e731854c7ac858n-held https://app.warera.io/region/6873d11594e6b3b7989a4c4a Islands.

The idea was straightforward.

Remove another https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d546e731854c7ac858n foothold from Africa.

https://app.warera.io/battle/6a8e384d63b5c2620be1d474

This one put 625,558 damage into the attempt.

It wasn't enough. The attack failed.

https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d546e731854c7ac858 remained.

Khajiit made a note.

The Battle We Didn't Want to End

Later that day came one of the stranger fights of the week.

https://app.warera.io/country/6873d0ea1758b40e712b5eed attacked https://app.warera.io/country/6873d0ea1758b40e712b5eef.

Both were friends. So why was this one firing?

Because sometimes WarEra strategy becomes deeply stupid when explained aloud.

https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d546e731854c7ac858 wanted https://app.warera.io/region/6873d11494e6b3b7989a4c02.

But while another battle occupied the priority, https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d546e731854c7ac858could not simply move when it wanted to.

So the objective of the https://app.warera.io/country/6873d0ea1758b40e712b5eed–https://app.warera.io/country/6873d0ea1758b40e712b5eef battle was not merely to win.

We needed it to exist.

And foreign fighters threatened to finish it too quickly.

https://app.warera.io/battle/6a8f3f45a9c2d113092e64ac

So this one dealt 679,107 damage helping ensure that foreign intervention did not prematurely end the battle.

Khajiit has now participated in battles where the objective was:

Win quickly. Win slowly. Lose usefully.

Deal exactly enough damage.

And please, for the love of the moons, do not let anybody finish this battle yet.

Military strategy is fascinating.

Morocco Tries Again

Then there was https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d546e731854c7ac848.

On the 27th, resistance fighters attempted to free their capital from https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d446e731854c7ac7aa.

This was not a small fight. The battlefield around this one exploded into an enormous struggle.

Binya's contribution?

https://app.warera.io/battle/6a902e1faf76e718c30426bb

15,581 damage.

Hmm.

This one was either desperately needed somewhere else or suffering through the dreaded debuff.

Possibly both.

Khajiit prefers to imagine this one fired several encouraging shots and then left important people to handle matters.

The revolt failed. Three days later...

https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d546e731854c7ac848 tried again.

This time Binya had considerably more to give.

https://app.warera.io/battle/6a941a7cf0694f6acbfadb5a

707,386 damage.

Another major attempt to free https://app.warera.io/region/6813b7099403bc4170a5d957 and begin pushing https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d446e731854c7ac7aa out.

Another defeat.

https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d446e731854c7ac7aa held 2–0.

But there is an important distinction between losing a battle and losing a war.

https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d546e731854c7ac848 remains occupied. https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d446e731854c7ac7aa remains deeply embedded across West Africa.

And people are still revolting.

The battle was lost.

The war is far from over.

Southern Africa — Hold. Then Push.

While this one was running around helping everyone else...

https://app.warera.io/country/6873d0ea1758b40e712b5f28 reminded us that https://app.warera.io/country/683ddd2c24b5a2e114af1612 had problems of its own.

On 24 August, https://app.warera.io/country/6873d0ea1758b40e712b5f28 attacked a strategically important https://app.warera.io/country/683ddd2c24b5a2e114af1612 resource region.

This happened almost simultaneously with https://app.warera.io/country/683ddd2c24b5a2e114af160f's attack on https://app.warera.io/country/683ddd2c24b5a2e114af15c3.

Two calls. Two fronts.

One increasingly concerned Khajiit.

https://app.warera.io/battle/6a8c30b819c2c3cd2a100f47

This one committed 827,931 damage to the South African defence.

We fought.

We lost 0–2.

But https://app.warera.io/country/6873d0ea1758b40e712b5f28 wasn't finished.

Hold the Capital

On the 27th they attacked https://app.warera.io/country/6873d0ea1758b40e712b5f73.

More importantly:

https://app.warera.io/country/6873d0ea1758b40e712b5f73's capital.

This mattered enormously to the wider South African position.

If https://app.warera.io/country/6873d0ea1758b40e712b5f73 could hold, the strategic priority would shift onto https://app.warera.io/country/6873d0ea1758b40e712b5f28.

If the priority shifted...

We could stop merely defending.

This one dealt 691,505 damage.

https://app.warera.io/country/6873d0ea1758b40e712b5f73 held.

https://app.warera.io/battle/6a8f7b4e0fec59967ec2ec60

2–0.

And suddenly the direction of the war changed.

The door opened for the counterattack.

🐾 The Counterattack Begins

Three days later, https://app.warera.io/country/6873d0ea1758b40e712b5f73 attacked https://app.warera.io/country/6873d0ea1758b40e712b5f28.

The counteroffensive had begun.

This one arrived ready to contribute.

https://app.warera.io/battle/6a943a9f8f08038f0550b3ba

Unfortunately...

The dreaded debuff had arrived first.

Khajiit looked at the battlefield.

Looked at his equipment. Looked at the damage penalty.

Looked back at https://app.warera.io/country/6873d0ea1758b40e712b5f28.

Fine.

273 damage.

One scratch.

This one considers the enemy sufficiently warned.

South America — Cayenne, Again

https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d446e731854c7ac79a spent part of this week having a recurring https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d546e731854c7ac858 problem.

On 25 August, French resistance fighters rose in https://app.warera.io/region/6813b7049403bc4170a5d6c9 against https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d546e731854c7ac858 occupation.

This one joined them.

https://app.warera.io/battle/6a8d5d791414219b9d45674a

138,085 damage.

Then Khajiit noticed something.

https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d546e731854c7ac858 wasn't really resisting.

Meanwhile https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d546e731854c7ac86e was involved in a much harder battle against https://app.warera.io/country/6873d0ea1758b40e712b5f16.

There is little point pouring ammunition into a battle already under control merely because the damage number becomes prettier.

So this one left.

https://app.warera.io/region/6813b7049403bc4170a5d6c9 was liberated 2–0.

Khajiit went to https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d546e731854c7ac86e.

Three days later...

https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d546e731854c7ac858 came back for https://app.warera.io/region/6813b7049403bc4170a5d6c9.

Of course they did.

This time https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d446e731854c7ac79a needed help defending what it had just reclaimed.

This one returned.

https://app.warera.io/battle/6a91e80f962756a68a423e50

291,944 damage.

France held 2–0.

There is something satisfying about that little sequence.

Help throw https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d546e731854c7ac858 out.

Go somewhere else. https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d546e731854c7ac858 returns.

Come back.

Help throw them away again.

Perhaps eventually they will take the hint.

A Brief Detour to Cuba

https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d546e731854c7ac899 had occupied much of the https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d446e731854c7ac7e5.

That created a supply problem worth addressing.

So when Cuban resistance rose against https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d546e731854c7ac899, the battle had significance far beyond https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d546e731854c7ac886 itself.

Cut the connection. Disrupt the supply.

Make https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d546e731854c7ac899's wider position harder to maintain.

https://app.warera.io/battle/6a915f6d215fbc42ba18a9be

This one contributed 624,332 damage.

Cuba won 2–0.

Then Khajiit returned to whichever continent was shouting loudest.

Meanwhile, Europe Kept Calling

Europe also required attention. Of course it did.

https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d446e731854c7ac79e revolted against the https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d446e731854c7ac7a0.

This one answered.

55,632 damage.

Then apparently became distracted.

Somewhere else there were louder explosions.

Later https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d446e731854c7ac7bc attacked https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d446e731854c7ac80e.

Allies requested assistance.

188,333 damage.

Then https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d446e731854c7ac7ba attacked https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d446e731854c7ac7bc's capital.

Another call.

135,815 damage.

There isn't some grand hidden story here.

No brilliant strategic plan from this one.

No deeply personal vendetta.

Allies asked.

Khajiit went.

Sometimes the journal should simply admit that.

Where the Bullets Went

By the end of the week, this one had dealt:

10,817,677 damage across 33 battles.

But where it went tells the story better than the total.

The numbers surprised this one.

Central Africa received the most.

Not https://app.warera.io/country/683ddd2c24b5a2e114af1612.

Not West Africa.

Not even https://app.warera.io/country/683ddd2c24b5a2e114af15c3.

And yet looking back, it makes sense.

More than a million for https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d546e731854c7ac86e.

More than a million for https://app.warera.io/country/683ddd2c24b5a2e114af15bd.

A quarter-million helping https://app.warera.io/country/683ddd2c24b5a2e114af15fa.

Week Three was filled with battles where the value of the damage was not simply measured by whether another region turned green on the map.

Sometimes damage says:

We see you.

Sometimes:

We haven't forgotten you.

Sometimes:

Look over here instead.

Sometimes:

Hold this line. We are coming.

And sometimes:

273. Khajiit is debuffed. Please be grateful.

May your roads lead to warm sands...

and may your pill debuff end before the important battle starts.