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Greetings,

Recently Gnilraps began a writing competition asking us to detail one cool thing the developers could create for eRep with the money they are earning from the MU contest.

My thoughts? Take us to space.



A Space Race

I'm not going to go into too much of a RL history lesson, but the space race between Russia and the US led to innovations in thought, technology, and weaponry for both nations.

I would like to see that spirit brought into eRep. This would be a multi-stage process.

R&D

In order to compete, nations would need to gain access to the relevant resources either through direct access or trade. Let's say to research and build new parts, a nation would need a specific number of days in ownership of a set amount of a number of resources. These could be currently available resources or ones developed for this aspect of the game.

Not only would this make it a more long term module, but it would add new layers of diplomacy and strategy into the game as nations decide to either take resources by force or broker trade agreements.

Launch

The initial push of this module would be the race to be the first into space. There would be a lot of hype around this generated by the admin and hopefully by the players themselves. The winner gets bragging rights and potentially other advantages...

What gets launched first? A satellite? A puppy? Ajay? Do we focus on local space or do we build long-range satellites to explore the universe around us?

These would all be decisions that the leaders of each nation would have to make as they approached the first launch day and all subsequent missions.


Potential

Not only would this be a fun competition initially, but it has so much potential for other things to be tacked on to it:

Business
The idea of harvesting resources and building specific equipment could lead to a re-imagining of how companies work and maybe the introduction of broad corporations with their own set of powers and influences.



Warfare
Developing rockets and launching orbiting satellites could provide military advantages to those nations, allowing them to strike behind enemy lines or perhaps giving them an "intelligence boost" in the form of us kind of handicap.
These tools could then be shared with allies as well.



Exploration
What will our satellites and crews find as they explore space? New resources perhaps? Habitable planets? Maybe some day down the road the ability to develop colonies would come into being, opening up a new evolutionary avenue for the game.

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For some this would be a bit much, it wouldn't be the eRep they know and claim to hate. However, it could be a lot of fun for players both short-term and long-term, and certainly the developers could find some way to monetize it to their advantage.

Please feel free to share thoughts, comments, and suggestions below.



-Ludo