Raider Force of 40+ Del-Tips Concord
Raider coalition likely deterred from higher-value targets by strong defender presence
Written by Comfed and Westinor, edited by upc
On March 24, at 1:21:25 a.m. EDT, a coalition of over 40 raider updaters entered the region Concord, sister region of The League and one of the largest frontiers in the game, and endorsed the nation "Council of Feathers," pushing it into the WA delegacy.
This is a practice known as "delegate-tipping" or just "del-tipping," in which a native nation with an already-high endorsement count is made WA delegate by an invading force. This has become an increasingly common tactic utilized to directly attack regions not otherwise vulnerable to traditional raids, where invaders themselves take the delegacy. This is now the second of such high-profile del-tips, following the del-tip of the North Pacific over three months ago.
Following the del-tip in Concord, raiders sent out a regional telegram insisting that the operation was proof of defender weakness. In response, the government of TL&C responded with a defiant regional telegram of their own, noting that defenders had preemptively defended vulnerable regions that update, forcing raiders to settle for a relatively low-impact operation on the secure Concord.
Raiders employed the use of "clean" puppets – nations disguised to look like ordinary nations rather than military puppets – to conceal the fact that they were preparing for an occupation. In spite of these measures to ensure stealth, they were spotted by defenders, who organized an effort to prevent the brewing raid before it could even take place. Specifically, they engaged in the practice of "pre-moving," in which defender forces preemptively moved to regions which had a high potential as raid targets and endorsed their native delegates, in order to counter any potential invasion.
Ultimately, however, none of the regions identified as potential raid targets were hit; instead, the raiders hit Concord. The nation who became WA delegate of Concord, Council of Feathers, is a native of the region since 2016 and already an official Vice Delegate, meaning that this raid has little effect. Given the size of the raider force, and the insignificance of the resulting operation, there is considerable speculation that the size of the defender presence at update deterred the raiders from pursuing a higher-value target.
