[Pfeiffer] National Priorities - Military Cohesion

Day 2,309, 08:23 Published in USA USA by Pfeiffer.
A Policy Piece from the Pfeiffer Presidential Library



Theme music

All former Presidents have a library on the forum. The historical archives are here.

My library is here.

As I currently hold no official position in the government, I'm taking this opportunity to publish a policy piece, using my 'library' much like RL former Presidents have been known to do.

Now, to the actual content...

Cohesion

As the game increasingly turns towards singular achievement and discourages cooperative gameplay, the wigs have decided to add mechanics which can be used to encourage players to work together.

Combat Orders allow the Commander of a military unit to allocate funding directly to a specific battle, rewarding those players who help to meet the goal set. If the Commander wants to see the wall stay above 52%, he simply sets a Combat Order which pays for damage done when the wall is below 52%. Some argue that this mechanic diminishes what it means to fight for your country, and that is a valid position. My response would be that this mechanic allows for military commanders to supplement the income of those soldiers who fight where it is most needed, when it is most needed, as the Combat Order suggests both importance and urgency.


Learn it, live it, love it.

With the growing costs of running a successful account, and the increasing limits on ways players can profit and grow, Combat Orders can supplement the income of soldiers without doing any damage to meta structures or operations.

Battle Boosters are relatively new, and are only activated about one week per month, but they can drastically shift momentum in a battle. The ability to increase the damage output of everyone in your division within your military unit, or to disable the weapons of your opponent (or both), allows for massive wall shifts in short periods of time. I have personally been one of a handful of tanks in EZC to help flip walls using a combination of weapon debuff and damage booster.

So why am I talking about this?

I feel that it's time for us to act on the discussions that have been ongoing regarding the creation of a single national military unit.

As the founder of the Ultramarines, I understand the desire to keep units as they are. It really is nice to see something you built rolling along and doing well even after leaving the nest. I left the Ultramarines because, so long as I was a member, I'd be in the leadership role. People need the opportunity to grow, and setting the ceiling at 'just below Pfeiffer' isn't fair to them, and requires a fair bit of work from me.

All that being said, I would be content to retire the unit as a standalone in game MU. We didn't have an in game badge at our founding, and we don't need one to still be the Ultramarines. Even now I've joined EZC for a time, I still wear our badge and am in every way an Ultramarine. Joining a national unit would not change this either. What it would change is our efficiency as a country.

In a national unit, Congress can allocate a budget line for Combat Orders which will be used strictly for those who allow their damage to be directed as our national priorities require. When boosters are active, we could have hundreds of Americans benefit from them instead of a dozen or two.

Walls could be built or torn down in moments.

Battles flipped with the issuance of a single Daily Order change or MU wall shout (which would increasingly become the 'USA' wall feed, introducing new players to the larger community without needing 300 new friends).

Units as they exist now would simply be integrated into the new unit as Regiments. Three or Four dedicated regiments would be enough for pretty much any unit.

Fill the first regiment with the tanks. The top 1% of the eUS. That would be fun, if only for the lulzy shouts we'd get to make.

Leave the second and third regiments as the newb catching regiments. That way you won't see them jumping into meta unit regiments down the list. Training Officers would assist with their integration from day one, as we'd literally have a constantly updated list of who is joining (this presumes we're going to advertise the unit in the NCM).

The only downside is a bit of a few bruised egos among the current MU Commanders. Deal with it. This is the best move mechanically, and you're doing the community a disservice if you oppose it.



USWP Update

Wild Owl is Party President again. I'm taking a rest for a bit, but I'm sure I'll be back at some point in that job.

picture time:


Meredith time.


Seriously, the best.


Still the best.


Now vote it up.

As always, if needed, I remain

Yours,


~Pfeiffer
Forty Second President of the United States


hnggggg