Why don the 2-9 states..

[Vivid]

Protect themselves by using guard?

Under protection of "guard" they can still grab from each other without risking being land raped from that big number one state.

Am I missing something here?

[nosejam]

You must not have done any attacks within the last 2 days to be able to join GDN.

They don't want to go two days without grabs, same with TDN for protection against spy suiciders

[Vivid]

You must not have done any attacks within the last 2 days to be able to join GDN.

They don't want to go two days without grabs, same with TDN for protection against spy suiciders

Still the number 2 state will win in the long run

[nosejam]

As soon as the number two started to catch up he/she would be more than half number one's networth and he/she would get grabbed for a huge amount, it all depends on if you think two days without grabbing is not too bad, also I'm guessing GDN will cost a state a lot when their networth is that big.

[Missionary]

1.3k land lost in a top10 grab isnt bad. and ive see ALOT worse happening every 36 hours.

plus the huge land difference help the 2-9 states get some sort of gb for when one of the others in top10 grabs them.

[Xavior]

It is a plausible strategy under certain conditions.

For example, you would need to have a steady amount of land so that even if you are grabbed twice by #1 while you are waiting the 48 hours, you can still produce lots of cash/units to stay out of #3/4/5's reach. So you would need a gap in networth and a gap in land.

For those below rank 2, it is very hard (in my opinion) to go without grabbing for 48 hours as a casher, and somewhat hard for an indy. Considering you would be grabbed constantly as you are passed by other states. So in the end, you'll be in GDN so #1 can't hit you, but you've already been hit a ton of times, and #2 and whoever passed you woudl still be able to.

And also for rank 2, it would only happen after #1 has jumped far enough ahead. Lets say he has 80m networth. Rank 1 would easily drop to 160m every 36 hours to grab him. And rank 2 can't stop growing, or those behind him would catch up. Its risky business.

So certain conditions = networth/land gap, and how many states can hit you (how many states above you are in your nation)