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How Strong Armies are Built
如何建设强大的军队

中文版 | English version

English version
eRepublik is a game based on war. Without war the economy cannot work. Even V2 will not change much in this respect. Therefore military power is and will continue to be the most important aspect of the game.

In the previous article I have explained how players can start organizing themselves in the so-called "private military units" or "private armies". I will now continue by presenting how the private units are used to build the National Army.

I will use the example of Romania, which I know best. As you are aware, Romania has an army of more than 2000 people. This is the best proof large numbers of players can be coordinated. It is not easy. And it is not obvious how to do it. This is why I am sharing with you the methods we use.

As you remember, if 10 people decide to form a private unit they need to put money together (3 gold each). They use the 30 gold to set up an organization (5 gold), a weapons q1 factory (20 gold).

The remaining 5 gold are used as a reserve for buying iron and paying the salaries. Sometimes the weapons market is so low that it becomes very unprofitable to sell all the production on the market. When that happens we sell only the weapons we need for equipping the soldiers. We use some money from the 5 gold reserves to buy the iron. This way the soldiers-workers can keep working. If they keep working they gain their Hard Worker medals. Therefore those 5 golds of the reserve is therefore worth 10 Hard Worker medals.

This is the beauty of this insurance system: we use the same 5 gold to secure 50 gold every month 😉 When the prices recover we simply restore the 5 gold reserve by selling all the weapons and buying back the gold from the Monetary Market. Since the 10 soldiers work with very low salaries, the military factory has much lower expenses than a civilian factory. This means the civilian factories can't keep the prices low forever. From my personal experience I can tell we never need to use all the 5 gold. And we recover all we have used in less than 3 days.

Now I am sure you have realized somebody has actually to manage the whole process:
- to put the weapons on the market,
- to buy iron,
- to exchange gold into CNY and back on the Monetary Market,
- to buy 50 weapons from the market every day and to distribute them to the soldiers-workers.

And this is work which must be done every day, for each group of 10 people. Imagine the same work for 2000 people (the Romanian army). How can somebody manage the distribution of 5 weapons x 2000 soldiers?!

This is why the Romanian army is build from the bottom-up. Every military units begins as a private unit. 10 people start a private unit and see if they resist working as a team. They divide the responsibilities among themselves. Once they see it works, they start recruiting other people to their unit. Every private unit grows like this until it cannot manage its activity anymore because of the size.

Each private unit chooses the commanders from among the members. Being a commander means a lot of hard work - it's complicated enough to take care every day of a 10-people team. The bigger the unit grows, the more complicated it gets to coordinate the production and distribution of the weapons. So the small units have one commander and one or two aids (so the factories can work even if the commander is unavailable for Real Life reasons) the bigger ones have a sophisticated command structure, with each vice-commander taking care of several factories and having his own aids.

Some private units are so well organized that they need only one factory for 50 people. How do they do that?! They work in shifts: 10 people work then they are fired. Another 10 people replace them, work and are fired. Such a system is possible only if the majority of the 50 people come online in the same time. The more disciplined the soldiers are, the easier it is to have them online at the same moment.

Other private units can't gather 50 people online in the same time. So they will use 5 different factories for teams of 10 people each. It all depends of who joins the private army and how they can schedule playing eRepublik with the other important things in their lives.

Since being a commander is such a complicated and time-consuming work and since being part of a military unit means cooperating with the other members, it is impossible to create a large army by governmental decree. eRepublik is NOT Real Life. In the Real Life the government appoints the commanders and everybody must obey the orders. If they don't, they go to jail.

In eRepublik there's no jail. If people hate the government-appointed commander they will not follow the orders. Therefore any solid army must be built from the ground-up, starting with small groups of 10 friends. And growing as fast as those 10 people can organize their group in such a way that new members want to join and everything works smoothly.

How does a private unit / private army become National Army?

First let's see what are the advantages of becoming part of the National Army:

1. Every time we sell the weapons on the market, the government automatically collects the VAT. This means the military company gets the market price - VAT. Even though the VAT might not be very high, by losing it every day the company loses important amounts.

Practical Example:

- The VAT in China is 3%.

- The price for 1 q1 weapon is 3.38 CNY.

Therefore a private unit of 10 soldiers must buy every day 50 weapons to equip those soldiers. This means each day the government collects 4.9 CNY as VAT. During a month, the government collects 147 CNY or 2.95 gold in VAT for every 10 soldiers of a private unit. If the unit is part of the National Army then the government returns those 2.95 gold at the end of the month.

2. In order for the soldiers-workers to work and fight at maximum productivity and maximum damage they need to be able to restore their wellness at 100 points every day. This is done by buying high q food and gifts. The salaries in the military companies are minimal, covering only the price of that high q food and gifts and nothing else.

Practical Example:

- If a soldier works in a q1 factory and does not have a house he needs a q4 bread (7.91 CNY) in order to always be at 100 wellness. Or 1 q2 bread (1.54 CNY) and 1 gift (1.82 CNY). We see the second option is cheaper (3.36 CNY).
- The Chinese income tax in the weapons sector is 10%. So if a soldier-worker in a q1 weapons factory needs 3.36 CNY every day to recover his wellness the salary must be 3.73 CNY. For every 10 soldiers the company needs to put aside 37.3 CNY as salaries. A q1 weapon sells for 3.38 CNY including VAT, which means the company gets 3.28 CNY. So every day 11 weapons go into covering the salaries. In order for the 10 people to have 50 weapons every day, the company must manufacture 50 + 11 = 61. And let's not forget we also need to cover the cost of the iron 😉

If the military unit is part of the National Army then the government covers the daily salaries. This means 22.38 gold every month for every 10 soldiers.

We understand now why it is interesting for the private army to become part of the National Army: it saves ~25 gold in VAT + salaries per month for every 10 soldiers.

25 gold for ever 10 soldiers is a LOT of money. For an army of 2000 soldiers this means 5000 gold/month spent by the government. It is obvious the military units who want to become members of the National Army must earn this honor. And be worth those money spent.

So what must a private military unit / private army do in order to become a member of the National Army?

Each country sets its own criteria. So it will be up to the Chinese government to decide. However as a guide line you can use:

- The number of soldiers. Here I would recommend a minimum of 30 . It is quite easy to organize smaller units. But a really solid group starts above 30 members. It is also easy for the government to distribute the money and to monitor larger groups. Just like the weapons, the money are distributed manually. An army of 2000 with military units of 30 members each would mean 67 separate transfers and inspections (to verify each unit meets the criteria). The larger the unit, the easier if for the government to work with it.

- Level of damage. The purpose of the National Army is to win battles by delivering more damage than the enemy. You could use a minimum level of around 40k per battle (this means 20k/day) as a criterion.

- The unit's history (how old is it). It usually takes 3 months for such a group to stabilize its membership. People come and go. The government and the whole country depends on the discipline of the National Army. Therefore any unit financed from the taxpayers' money must be one with very disciplined people and with skilled commanders. It usually takes 3 months till the people prove they can be trusted and the leaders that they have the talent needed to make the unit functional. A lot of this skill has to do with the ability of keeping the people interested in the game and in the missions of the unit. Making sure everybody gets the weapons is another important skill. But keeping 50 people interested for 3 months is by far more important.

- The level of discipline. An useful unit is an unit where most of the soldiers fight at the right time in the right battle. During a day there can be more than one battle going on. Not all of them are important. A disciplined unit should be able to mobilize at least 50% of the members for fighting in the important battle. Each player has his Real Life priorities. Because of them it is possible to miss a battle from time to time. However we have seen well organized and disciplined units are able to bring at least 1 member out of 2 to the important battlefields.

- The quality of the management. This means discipline-at-work. A well-managed unit has 10 active workers in each factory/iron mine. This means any time the government representative inspects the factory or the mine, at least 7 out of 10 workers have worked each day of the month. People might miss working because of their RL schedule. But the managers need to make sure those salaries the government pays are paid for real work done. If less people work, the government should also pay less.

- The level of the stocks of weapons. Each soldier must have access to enough weapons to fight for several days. Imagine your country is temporarily wiped-out. Where do you get the weapons for the Resistance Wars from?! Do you buy them from the enemy? They have occupied your country. Now you're also giving them money?

Or how about a direct war with one of your neighbors? When such a war happens the price of the weapons go up. It would be in the country's best interest to keep the price of the weapons stable, so as many citizens as possible can afford the weapons.

These are just two examples why the military units need to have stocks of weapons. Because the government covers the salaries, the units are not forced to sell all their weapons. So they can accumulate stocks. A good level of stocks would be at least one week of fighting/soldier, meaning at least 35 q1 weapons/soldier.

Another aspect of the level-of-stocks rule is less obvious but very important. We know every group of 10 people needs 50 weapons in the important battles. This means the military units must also attract people with high skill levels. The good thing is people with high skill levels also have high strength and high ranks. This helps the unit deal a high amount of damage. And experienced people are good to have in the unit because they can explain how eRepublik works to the new recruits. This in turn helps them enjoy the game more and remain active.

We see that having standards has both obvious benefits and hidden benefits. This is why the countries who get organized are much stronger than what the number of players would indicate.

Since an important part of my mission as an ambassador to China is to increase China's military capabilities, I would gladly answer any questions you may have. Don't worry if you do not master the English language. You can ask directly in Chinese and if Google Translate does not help me understand the question I will ask one of my Chinese friends to translate it for me. They will probably also translate my answers back to Chinese, so everybody can profit from the information.

Keep making China stronger, the day of liberation is near.

Long live China!
Long live Romania!
Long live EDEN!
Together for victory!


中文版

eRepublik是一个基于战争的游戏。没有战争经济将陷于停滞，即使第二版在这方 面也将不会有太大的改变。因此军事实力是并将继续是该游戏最重要的方面。

在前一篇文中，我已经解释过玩家如何开始将他们自己组织在所谓的“私有军事单位”或是 “私人军队”中。现在我将继续介绍如何通过私人单位来建立国家军队。

我将以我最了解的罗马尼亚为例。如你所知，罗马尼亚有着超过2000人的军队。这是大 量的玩家可以协调起来的最好的证明。这不是件容易的事，而且实现的方法也不是很明显。 这就是我为什么要和你们分享我们使用的方法的原因。

正如你所记得的，如果有10个人决定组成一个作战单位，他们需要把钱凑在一起（每人3 金）。他们用这30G来建立一个组织号（5金）及一个Q1武器厂（20金）。

其余5金则存下来用于购买铁矿和支付薪水。有时武器市场于过低迷，在市场上出售所有的 武器无利润可言，此时我们就只出售用于装备士兵的数量的武器。我们用那存下来的5金中 的一部分来购买铁矿，这样军垦团就能持续工作，如果他们持续工作他们就能拿到他们的劳 动奖章，因此这存下来的5金用于换来10个劳动奖章是值得的。

这就是这个保障制度之美：我们使用 同样的5G来每月获得50G 😉 当价格回升的时候我们通过出售所有库存武器和从汇市回购黄金而再存5金下来。由于10 名士兵以很低的工资工作，军工厂的开销就比民间厂要小，这就意味着民间厂不能永远保持 低廉的价格。从我个人的经验来说我们永远用不了全部的5金，并且在3天内基本能回收之 前所动用的部分。

现在我相信你已经意识到有人在实际管理整个过程：
- 将武器放到市场上出售，
- 购入铁矿，
- 在汇率市场上进行黄金与CNY之间的兑换
- 每天从市场上买50把武器并分发到军垦团手中。

这就是每天每个10人小组必须做的事。想像一下，对2000人来说同样的工作（罗马尼 亚军队）。怎么有人可能管理5武器x2000士兵的分发呢？！

这就是为什么罗马尼亚军队是自下而上建设的。每一个军事单位都从一个私人单位开始，从 一个10人的私人单位开始，然后看他们作为一个团队来工作是否会相互抵制。他们自己分 配在他们之间的责任。一旦他们看到其开始运转，他们会招募其他的人到他们的单位里。每 个私人单位都如此增长，直到其因为活动规模过大而无法管理为止。

每个私人单位从各自的成员中挑选指挥官。作为一名指挥官意味着很多繁重的工作——每天 照管10人的团队是很复杂的事。单位增长得越大，在协调生产和武器分发方面的工作就越 复杂。因此，一个小单位有一个指挥官及一或两个助手（以令工厂在即使指挥官因现实原因 不能在线时也能运转），大点的单位则有一个复杂的指挥结构：每个副指挥官都照管几个工 厂并各有其数个助手。

一些私人单位组织得如此之好，以至于他们50人只需要一个厂。他们如何做到这一点的？ ！他们轮班工作：10个人先工作，然后被解雇。另10个人顶替他们工作然后接着被解雇 。这种制度只在当这50个人中的大部分都在同一时间在线的时候才可行。越是守纪律的士 兵，越容易让他们在同一时间在线。

其它的私人单位不能在同一时间凑齐所有的人。所以他们将10人一组使用5个不同的厂。 这一切取决于谁加入了独立部队以及他们如何安排在eRebpublik的游戏时间及生 活中其它重要的事的时间表。

由于身为指挥官是一个非常复杂和费时的工作，以及自从成为一个军队单位就意味着与其他 成员合作，这就不可能由政府出面来建立一支庞大的军队。eRepublik不是现实生 活。在现实生活中政府指定指挥官，每个人都必须服从命令。如果他们拒绝，他们就得进监 狱。

在eRepublik游戏里没有监狱。如果人们讨厌政府指定的指挥官，他们将不听调遣 。因此任何坚实的军队都必须自下而上地建设，从一个由10个朋友构成的小队开始，并且 以新成员自愿加入的这种方式这 10个人的小组可以以他们能够组织管理的速度增长，一切都平滑进行。

一个私人单位/私人军队如何成为国家军队？

首先让我们来看看成为国家军队的优点：

1. 每当我们在市场上出售武器时，政府将自动征收增值税。这意味着军工厂要在市场上付出代 价 - 增值税。每天这部分损失都会导致公司损失相当的数量，即使增值税可能不会很高。

实例：
- 中国的增值税为3%。
- 1件1星武器的价格为3.38 CNY。

因此，10人的私人单位士兵必须每天购买50武器以装备这些士兵。这意味着每天政府收 取增殖税 4.9 CNY。在一个月里政府从每个私人单位的10个士兵身上收取147 CNY或2.95金的增殖税，如果单位是国家军队的一部分，则政府就可以在月底返还这 2.95金。

2. 为了使军垦团以最大生产力和最大伤害来工作和战斗，需要每天将他们的体力值恢复到10 0，这是通过购买高星级食物和礼物来实现的。在军工厂发放最低薪水，使之刚好能够涵盖 高星食物和礼物的价格，除此以外便无其它。

实例：

- 如果一名没有房子的士兵在1星工厂工作，他需要一个4星面包（7.91CNY），或者 1个2星食物（1.54 CNY）及1礼物（1.82 CNY）。我们来看第二个更经济的选择（3.36 CNY）。

- 中国的武器所得税是10%。因此如果一个军垦团成员在一个1星武器厂工作，需要3.3 6 CNY来维持其体力的话，其薪水应该至少为3.73 CNY。每天工厂需要为每10名士兵准备37.3 CNY的薪水，因此每天出售11武器以筹措薪金。为使10个人每天都有50武器，公司 需要制造50 + 11 = 61件武器。并且别忘了，我们还需要支付铁矿的费用。😉

如果军事单位是国家军队的一部分，则由政府支付日薪。这就意味着每月需要为每10名士 兵支付22.38金。

我们现在理解为什么私人军队成为国家军队的一部分是件很有意思的事了：其在增殖税+薪 水上每月为每10名士兵节省了约25金。

25金对即使10名士兵来说都是一大笔钱。对一支2000人的军队来说 ，这意味着5000金 /每月的政府支出。很明显想要成为国家军队的一份子的军队单位必须自己赢得这一荣誉。 而这笔钱是值得花的。

那么，一个独立军事单位/私人军队应当必须做什么以成为国家军队的一份子呢？

每个国家设置其自己的标准。因此这将由中国政府决定。然则作为指导，你可以使用：

- 士兵人数。此处我推荐最小为30。这是很容易组织起来的小单位。但是一个真正 坚实的组织始于至少30人以上的成员。对政府来说分配资金和监视大点的小组也很容易。 就像武器、资金都是手动分发的。一支由30人小组组成的2000人的军队将意味着67 次转帐和检查（核实每个单位是否符合标准），单位越大，政府工作起来越容易。

- 伤害等级。国家军队的目标是靠输出比敌人更多的伤害来赢得战斗。你可以用大概 4万的伤害（意即2万/天）的一个最小输出水平来作为标准。

- 单位的历史（成立多久）。通常对于这样的一个组织来说需要3个月以稳定其成员 。人员浮 动是常事，而政府和全国依赖于国家军队的纪律，因此任何由纳税人的钱资助的单位必须有 着高度的纪律性及有经验的指挥官。这通常要花上三个月来让人们证明他们可以被信任，以 及他们的领导有足够的能力来运作这个单位。该技能的很大一部分是与保持人们在游戏中及 在单位任务中的兴趣相关，保证所有人都能拿到武器是另一重要技能。但是，更为重要的是 在3个月内保持50人在游戏中的兴趣。

- 纪律水平。一个有用的单位是一个大部分士兵在正确的战役里于指定的时间作战的 单位。在一天中可能有一个以上的战斗正在进行，而并非所有的都重要。一个纪律严明的单 位应当能调动至少50%的成员在重要战役中进行战斗。每个玩家在现实生活中都有有事要 优先处理，因此可能间或会错过一场战斗。无论如何，这种具有组织纪律性的单位在重要的 战役中至少能达到一半的出勤率。

- 管理质量。这意味着工-作-纪-律。一个管理良好的单位在每个工厂/铁矿厂都 有10个活跃的工人，这意味着任何政府的代表考察工厂或矿山的时候，至少7到10个工 人在一个月里全勤。人们可能会因为他们现实中的行程表而错过了工作，但是经理需要确定 政府所拨款项被用于支付实际完成的工作。如果工作的人少了，政府也应该减少拨款。

- 武器的库存水平。每个士兵必须获得足够用于好几天战斗的武器。设想你的国家临 时被抹去的情形，你从哪儿弄到足够用于抵抗运动的武器？！你从敌人手中购买武器吗？他 们已经占领了你的国家，现在你还要给他们钱？

或者一场直接与你邻国的战争？这种情况下开战时，武器价格会上涨。此时保持武器价格稳 定而令尽可能多的公民能够承担得起武器的开销将符合国家的最佳利益。

这只是两个关于为什么军事单位需要有武器库存的例子。由于政府支付工资，作战单位无需 出售其生产的所有武器，因而可以积累库存。一个好的库存水平将能维持每个士兵一星期的 战斗装备，即为至少35件1星武器/每人。

武器囤积水平规则的另一个方面不太明显，但是非常之重要。我们都知道每个小组的这10 个人在一次重要战役中都需要50件武器，这就意味着军事单位必须吸引高技能的人，好处 在于高技能的人力量和军衔同时也很高，这有利于在战斗中输出高伤害。在一个单位内的有 经验的人是很有好处的，他们会向新人解释eRebpublik是如何运作的。这将帮助 他们享受更多游戏乐趣并保持活跃。

我们现在看到了制订标准的明显以及隐藏的有利之处。这就是为什么组织起来的国家比同数 量的玩家所显示出的更为强大的原因。

既然我作为中国大使的重要目标之一是提高中国的军事实力，我将很乐意回答你们可能的任 何问题。不要担心，如果你英语不好的话你可以直接用中文，如果google翻译不好用 ，我会问帮我翻译的中国朋友。他们也可能把我的答案译回中文，所以每个人都可以从信息 中获利。

继续令中国变得更强大吧，解放的那一天临近了。

中国万岁！
罗马尼亚万岁！
EDEN万岁！
为了共同的胜利！