Join the new world

I spent several hours outside yesterday. First, I sat under a tree by a busy intersection. Then, later in the day, I wandered around a golf course for a while. eRep can start to make you go a bit bug-eyed if ya don’t spend at least some time getting away from it. Of course, I spent that three-sitting time sketching maps of our borders, so maybe I missed the point on that one. Oh well.



The War For London

As I write this, the battle for London is going full force. We’re outside of our prime time and into the Brit’s home turf, so it’s essential that we hit hard and close this war. Britain makes the argument that, if only we let him win in London, we can close this war “much faster.” Let’s be clear: This is wrong. Appleby is a good guy, and most of the time he is smart. But anyone with a basic grasp of game mechanics can tell you that keeping a war open is not the fastest way to close it. Heck, I don’t think you need game mechanics to understand that.

Glibly handing London to the British delays our efforts, wastes time on a long series of battles, and all requires that the Irish, who have seen no direct battles in weeks, chime in at the perfect time to take Wales and SWoE to close off our border. I note, of course, that Appleby has not spoken to the Irish about this move, though perhaps now he will remember to.

I’ve mentioned to our UK Ambassador that I will be writing the British people an open letter to explain Canada’s position: to explain that we are here to close our war, not to continue it. Appleby seems interested in dragging this fight out for as long as possible - you’ve seen that in the fierce resistance battles they keep fiddling around with. For now this letter is on hold. Close London, and we’ll talk.


Ask And you Shall Maybe Receive

Every president of every country faces a simple foreign affairs question: “can we has?” There used to be a time when battling for colonies was a far less important venture. Now, however, colonizing and maximizing resources is all but essential. A direct state of perpetual war, too, is to the advantage of our players. Some nations even endure constant occupation just to pick up on the advantages of those endless battles.

Leading up to today, Canada’s been in a pretty good position to chat with her allies. We’ve repaired our reputation, played a very vocal role in both groups, and gotten repeated priority attention from our friends in Terra and EDEN. Now, even as London proves daunting, we carry 8 colonies and are in a position to take on a 9th. Compare that to America’s 6 colonies and you’ve got some perspective there.

We are trying to close the war with Britain. As I’ve said, Appleby has decided he wants to keep it open (so much for progress, eh Applesauce?). At the same time, we are chatting with our allies about other options and different fronts we can move to. On one front, we need to play the waiting game - it’s a matter of timing. On another, we have no desire to spark war. Our normal enemy border count is 1. Today, it’s 4. Surprise ONE: we don’t want war with all of you at the same time. Not yet, anyway.

Instead, we’ve gotten the green light from our allies to move in “that other direction” - which I will refer to vaguely in an effort to not, you know, count my eggs before they’re pixeled. The battle for London will determine how quickly we can move to this or other fronts, and will also determine how all 3 major alliances proceed in Northwestern Europe. We’ve asked for new fronts, and we’re getting one. We’ve asked Appleby to close the war he agreed to close, and we’re not getting that. Apparently this makes Canada the untrustworthy one. British logic, jumbo shrimp, I’m tellin’ ya.


Executive Order

I don’t recall issuing many EOs in my first term. I don’t think many were necessary: the main orders were essentially “hey, can we have Alberta back today?” Now, however, with a fair number of things sitting in Congress (and several getting lost in the shuffle), the fancy EO pen is on the table. I’ve ordered Congress to repeal 2 of our laws, and shorten another by a third. I’ve instructed them to move the budget, proposed nearly 2 days ago and seeing very little discussion, to a vote for approval. And, in the non-EO realm, we’re looking at a new citizen message and a change to the courts. These alongside frequent MPPs and daily Embargo votes.

None of these are drastic moves, and most of them have become common practice (if not commonly done). Instead, they represent a simple, consistent push for Congress to earn their 5 gold prize by taking care of some of their responsibilities. Most of the time, legislation is Congress’ business. They are, after all, the legislative body. The EO comes into play because this hasn’t been happening. Similarly, the new citizen message and court setup are long overdue for fixes. Having been in Congress myself, and indeed written some of the material I’m pushing to remove, I have no problem speaking up if some Congressmen are reluctant to do so.

A fair point should be made that not every Congressman is dragging their feet. Many are speaking up, and several have actually made good points. But the vast majority of Congressmen from all parties have been silent this term. I know they’re still Congressmen - the vote on the MPPs. So maybe these EOs will set some fuel to Congress’ efforts, and get those quiet players talking. We’ll see.


An Inside Job

Longsword 3! … Kidding. Hope you oldies enjoyed the reference.

Throughout the term I’ve received pitches to take on different Ministers of the Interior: from Immigration to Health to Social Affairs, there’s plenty of ideas out there to address the pet projects that I continue to mention through this term. Personally, I’m not interested in picking up a Cabinet position on the assumption that it will create a new area of initiatives. I’ve been in enough Cabinets to know that many ministers don’t do anything but say they’re a minister.

I’ll be honest, I’m envious of the Health initiative Britain is running. I inherently like the idea of helping new people do well, and I’ll be the first one to tell you that Canada does a poor job of fostering new players. That’s why I keep taking in ideas about different initiatives, and putting a number of them into play. That’s why I’m looking at the new citizen message and the offshoots that will come from that. It’s why I work on silly little things like my Borders Map.

So many of us old farts are desperate to not be the only people in the room. We’re tired of being the only ones that matter - we want to have to work for that. The solution to our why-are-we-so-bitter dilemma is in the same spot: the more young people you have, the less the fogey bitterness matters. There are lots of initiatives to run that will help address this. None of these need a minister to get the job done. You think something should happen? Cool, let’s make it happen. Let’s do it. Ya don’t have to be in Cabinet to shape the game.