Land Claim Effectiveness

I think (as I have said in the StA thread) that each player should automatically have access to the 20 squares nearest to their city, as those are the only squares that can actually be used (assuming someone wants to be cost effective) to give bonuses to production, regardless of wether they have actually claimed those squares as sov.  Any other squares can also be claimed with sov, although they must be truly sov claimed to be recognized.  Squares that don't meet any of this criteria can be regraded as "free," although players may stake these claims in the forum, etc.  The "free" claims can be expected to be contested heavily, as in the case of StA, and they must be enforced militaristically in order to be viable.  

Actually, many alliances have what could be considered a land claim, it's the way they go about supporting that claim that makes the difference. StA have made the mistake of running onto the forums and claiming an entire region for themselves, and saying that any who settle there will be removed. This smacks horribly of TMM, although not as severe.

SugarFree wrote: [QUOTE=Nokigon] Actually, many alliances have what could be considered a land claim, it's the way they go about supporting that claim that makes the difference. StA have made the mistake of running onto the forums and claiming an entire region for themselves, and saying that any who settle there will be removed. This smacks horribly of TMM, although not as severe. But there ARE other alliances who have made land claims. Take Tcol and BSH. They've effectvely claimed Mal Motsha, haven't they? But the difference is how they go about supporting that claim. They've made a quiet forum post, requesting that only those who are in a diplomatic relation with them stay in said land, and that is a much better stance to take. For the first part, if you're surrounded by cities from an alliance, you're probably going to either move, join the alliance or sign a treaty. Also, FreE has a heavy presence in Fremen, which could be considered a land claim.  Even my alliance, CoK, has what could be called a land claim, with a HEAVY presence in Lucerna and particularly the pass through the river to Ragallon. But we don't say, you got two choices- you move that city or we do it for you. And here's the final point. StA are trying to lay claim to an entire region, one that has a fair strategic naval importance (or will when ships come out). Any of the top ten could support that claim, maybe even top 20 or 25. But StA is the 50th biggest alliance. Now, suppose StA started a trend and everyone claimed a region, and said only they were allowed in that region. Well, it's obvious that there's not going to be enough alliances for the regions and therefore there's going to be wars, right? Could StA defend Farra Isle? Answer: NO. StA could claim farra Isle, but they're going about it in completely the wrong way. As it is, they're trying to hold Farra Isle with their swords, and they are few and far between.