This is in response to the guy from ICN complaining about grabs from LaF. First off if you want a NAP you need to KEEP IT OFF THE BOARDS. The major players cant be seen to be backing down to you.

Its not always best to NAP with the major alliances since they are so fat. There is a common misconception amongst the weaker alliances that most larger alliances will kill you if you dare to grab them.
They cant. Unless you are totally unknown. If you have good relations with a few decent alliances and you can get your name out the major alliances will be forced to live by their 1:1 retal policy or they lose credibility. Notice how whenever LaF gets grabbed alot they try to scare people with all their big retals? Well if you are lower ranked and have less land those big retals turn into little retals.

Its not just LaF. MD, TIE, Legion, Armageddon and others have to live by their landgrab policy. So if you find these alliances hitting you, dont just retal... pop em. Get lots of ofense and hit em.
Here is a second misconception. A top 100 player at this stage of the game is NOT as powerful relative to you as later in the game. If someone is double your networth and only 2 million above you its really not that much. Not like if someone is 20 million above you. So its really not that hard for rank 2000 guys to landgrab top 100 players if you just go mostly jets.

Just dont gangbang or double grab and try to take on one alliance at a time. If they hit you later in the game too much when you cant hit their top players, farm their midlevel players.
Remember when you attack someone double your networth with a planned attack you get about 12% of his land plus a 50% bonus if all buildings are built or about 16%. If they attack down they get about 5% plus buildings or 71/2% plus you will have less land.
Its really not that hard. The one wildcard is Han. But they are manageable as well. Alliances like UCN and SOL and others have a history of gathering a circle of friends made of weaker alliances and helping them out. Get one or two of those guys as your allies(its not that hard they have soft spots) and Han will chicken out.
Also keep in mind that people RARELY go to war the first 4-5 weeks of the game. The UCN/SOL thing was an exception. If it happens its VERY short. They dont want to go to war this early. So you can get away with alot more crap early on.

The reason why the major alliances can get this fat is because the weaker guys are WIMPS. ITs that simple. I was really the first person to come up with the idea of NAPPING with EVERY major alliance in the game(noone believed in that many NAPs before me.. admit it). because I knew I could beat the crap out of the rest of you.
Lets say you are at 3,000 acres and your target is at 8,000 acres and more than double your networth.
First off odds are if he grabs you it will be a standard strike, but lets assume its a planned.
You will lose about 150 acres. He will get another 75 acres(which are magically created) and get about 225 acres.
If you attack him he will lose about 880 acres plus you will get another 440 acres magically created as buildings for a total of 1320 acres while losing only 150 acres.
In turn he will lose 655 acres. I know how to use it since Im the one who recommended this idea to Mehul two years ago. It makes the game more competitive.

If you are in an alliance with REALLY low ranked members... here is a VERY simple strat which will teach your guys the basic and get you out of the depths of hell in earth.
Go communist. Get rid of ALL buildings accept construction sites and put up all industry. Dont buy ANY tech(explain later).
Look anyone below rank 600 or so has NO idea what they are doing(unless they got totally creamed). This means that they are playing terribly so its easy to pass them.
Just going all industry will pass them. Even if you are land thin. The higher you are in networth the LESS people above you in rank and the less people to grab you. You are higher on the food chain.
Its a SIMPLE strategy to play. Its also beneficial to have everyone do it. This gets around the problem of members taking advice from people who dont know anything. They often get beligerant and try to correct you when you try to help their rank 5,000 country right? Have them all do the same thing.
This will also teach you the basics. Its enough to get a feel for doing well.
The reason you dont buy any tech until you get to rank 500-600 is because tech is worth less networth and its more important to get networth when your that low so there is less chance to be grabbed. You dont need the tech to pass people around you they all suck anyway.
You can go from rank 10,000 to rank 500 in 6-7 days or less at this stage of the game.
If your players totally suck dont waste your time with cashers or mixing or the other garbage. Just do this. This will get you with several members high enough so they can get lots of jets and retal on anyone.
Some people(like Alhazred) will say go dictator because of the military bonus. Well a 20% bonus to crappy military is still crappy military. Someone WAY above you wont be hesitant about grabbing you anyway. I always looked for low down Dictators to hit because they were always fatter and gave me more land.
You will also encounter temper tantrums from members saying your an idiot because they have a negative cash and food flow. That is why you sell the military you make to buy the food and to have the money. You will make more than you lose. Quite a bit more.
This isnt a game winning strat but it will get you to a decent networth. From that level you can then engage in some foreign relations. No power alliance will take a group of rank 4,000 guys seriously at all. Noone will ally with you. Noone will help you.
BTW, I got some time now that work has slowed down. Maybe an hour or so a few nights a week to help some of the LOW down alliances out. So you can ICQ me 3866039. I dont guarantee a response.
BTW, if you question what I tell you and argue with me or dont follow what I say you will not get any further responses.