Check the previous pages tootje, you will find some fireworks for ya

BTW where are you in M4?

Why does anyone even wanna merge with the enemy for the whole era is beyond me.

On and off naps, members quitting, betraying, switching teams, now merging...

Era should burn and act as it never happened.

Hrm. An unexpected turn of events.
Meh. I'd have gone for the outright kill, but I can see why they did this. This was inevitable, by the way. Over time, people get to know each other. Then they say 'we cannot attack little Azu! He helped us in the war against JEDI' or 'No, no. Those were first alliance from when I started. We cannot have war against them...'
Then people get more friendly. Wars start to be solely against the new rival alliances, as opposed to with all comers, with some players on each side staying out of it because they know someone in the enemy alliance and don't want to hurt them.
That's my take on it anyway. Feel free to disagree. I can think of some ways in which I might be wrong, such as with people agreeing not to bear grudges if they are on opposite sides of the war or lone wolfers, so to speak. But by and large...
Volunteers to set up the UN in BD?

Well, it seems someone didn't.

See, it doesn't matter. If a friend is in an enemy alliance, you still have to be loyal to the alliance you are in. The reason that UTM and AL merged, was because certain members of AL didn't wanna end up losing their relics, crystals and rank, and UTM didn't wanna risk losing their units in a fight with AL.

Bottom line is, both are undeserving in terms of winning the era, and they are too scared of losing units. They are reasonably good, but if RDH or any other good alliance, like DE last era for example, had played hard this era, they'd have been dead by now.

On the contrary, I would disagree with that. As much as you should be completely dedicated to furthering your alliance's goals, I am what my recently re-published guide defines as a semi-'ethical' player. I choose an alliance, but if I don't like the way that it's going, I make efforts to leave (AXW in the last era). Otherwise, I'm quite soul-bonded. However, the point remains that there are certain alliances that I would do my best not to attack, and the only way that I would fight them is if they attacked me, whereupon I'd call 'betrayal' and attack with all the ferocity of a wounded bear. Likewise for some players... Demon, for example.
However, I do my best to ensure that I'm 'on their side', so the problem generally doesn't come into play.
Now I'm not the best player. But I'm certainly not the worst, and unlike some I don't have (I hope I don't have) poor morals. And there are quite a few people who think like me... so I can't be alone in this.
However, more powerful and more... I won't say experienced, because one old-client player is sitting right here, but more... well-travelled, where you can't move without attacking a 'friend', players may well disagree.

Its okay to leave an alliance if its not doing well. If you are in an alliance, that wants to win the era, and you have a friend in another alliance that wants to win itself, then war is inevitable. Morals, ethics have nothing to do with warring ingame. Infact, having a fair war is considered ethical. Id be surprised if people disagree with me on this. Therefore, whether you have friends or not in the enemy alliance, if you gotta war, you gotta war.

The only thing that is shameful, is cheating ingame in order to win.

And BTW what do you mean, "alliance is not going well"? Do you mean you quit if the alliance is gonna be conquered? Hope not, cuz I wouldn't pick people like that in my teams ever again. Id expect people to stay with me whether we win or lose.

You're not very well at using "big" words. Guides won't teach you skill people only achieve that after experience and wins which many certainly lack. Your "semi-ethical" ideal is SIMMEN to say the very least. When I commit to an alliance I do everything in my power to make sure they are in the pole position if not top 3. Regardless of whether I dislike the leader or a team mate you're still a part of that roster and working together for a common goal which is to win. If you're not in it to win it you're playing the wrong game.

But back to what Allen said. Both UTM and AL ultimately did not deserve a win for trash talking one another back and forth multiple bans on both sides and lack of fights. It was a long drawn out "cold war" where both sides wore each other out by creating inactive bored players like Bobby where he ended up getting sick of team mates and leaving. That's not the Battledawn it used to be where competition and glory was won after wars. This game is just full of greed and deceiving one another. The bonus tokens won for top 3 alliances has really turned even the most honorable players into disgusting scum.

edit - fixed a slight remark that reminds me of Simmen

I use the word 'semi-ethical' in context with the aforementioned recently re-published guide. It defines it as:

Ethics are, according to me, ideas about what is acceptable and what is not. I also object to various other things, as detailed in another... re-published guide.
Hence, semi-ethical.
As to the alliance not going well: Them doing bad things, so attacking allies without restraint etc. I can stomach most other things, such as inactivity... to a point. And I do not rage-quit if we're losing a war. I stick around and if there is no other option, so if we're not able to effectively build up our forces for whatever reason, I'm generally the leader of our guerilla warfare efforts.

Contended, explain? Particularly as I believe that I have a superior English ability to many players in this game... many of whom are far more powerful than me.

SIMMEN-A Swiss snowboarder? An engineering company? Confused...
And I know that guides only take you so far. However, I remember my old days (back in t'day...) am how much I appreciated guides, which is why I republish old ones. And experienced players can learn much from them too.
As to trying to build your way up to at least rank 3... of course that's what you do. And unless I disagree with their ethics, then I perpetually strive to attain that.