[MoE] Question & Answer #1

Day 2,055, 19:25 • Published in Ireland Ireland • by Ian E CoIeman
July 6, 2013

Hello eIreland,

In order to better assist eIreland's new citizens and work with eIreland toward understanding every facet of this game, the Ministry of Education will begin publishing periodic Q&A articles. The Ministry of Education and Bootcamp are also collaborating on a FAQ for new citizens in hopes of making the game more enjoyable for our new citz!

The Q&A will work very simply, send us your questions here:



New and interesting questions will be published in articles like this one, and commonly asked questions will eventually be featured in a shiny new FAQ.

Today's Questions
I already asked Boot Camp Commander, Ian Arbuckle, to distribute the question box link to Boot Camp members, and we got a handful of good questions to get us started. I'm just going to answer four of the questions we received at a time to keep things digestible.

Is there, or why is there not, a mentor program for new players?

There is currently no formal one on one mentorship program for new players, however one of the objectives of Boot Camp is to provide general mentorship and advise for division one citizens. Bootcamp is the government sponsored Military Unit designed to train and assist new citizens who are in division one. With only about 30 total members of Bootcamp (of which only a fraction will be active/long term players), when it comes to help and advice, ask and you shall receive.

What is the best way to generate iep?

Unless I am missing something, this is a real grind for new players. Unlike most games, there is very little to do in terms of generating funds. However, fighting requires large amounts for moving countries. Should new players really only be able to move and fight once a week? Hopefully it gets easier once in a position to sell goods 🙂

Good question. For new citizens a major source of income is generated through winning medals. Medals are shown as "achievements" on your profile page, and each one that you win will give you 5 gold.

- Now, there are two kinds of currency in eRepublik: Gold, and CC (Country Currency). Note that country currency is the same regardless of which nation you are in - if you travel to the United States your IEP (Irish Pounds/Punt Éireannach) will be magically converted into USD (United States Dollars).

- Trading between gold and currency is incidentally another way to make income for yourself, though it requires more planning and effort. The Ministry of Education wrote an article about the Monetary Market and using it to make money which you can read here.

- Working in a company will earn you some income too, but you'll realize that it doesn't add up very fast. If you save enough money however you can build your own companies, and with a mind for business, begin generating a better profit. You can learn how to start your own companies here. Be warned that the economy module of eRepublik is a bit unforgiving however, it is not necessarily designed to the benefit of young entrepreneurs.


- Another good way to make income is by inviting your friends to eRepublik (eIreland preferably). This is a fairly easy way to make good income right off the bat, and eRepublik is fairly generous to those who invite new players. Be warned however that multiple accounts are not allowed and will be detected. Find out more about inviting new citizens here.

So that covers the basics of earning income in eRepublik (aside from buying gold of course).

Once I have gold what should I start spending it on?


Ah, pay close attention. I advise new players to start out by investing heavily in their "free" training grounds. This is the one training facility that allows you to train for 0 gold. As a new citizen you can do this once a day and gain 5 strength every use.

1st Upgrade - For 20 more gold – gain a total 10 strength every use.

Now this isn’t cheap at all, but as far as gold goes it’s one of the best investments you can make in yourself. Once you have the gold to do it, you will be gaining that 5 extra strength every day for the rest of your eLife. Eventually this upgrade pays for itself. Later you can do even more upgrades to this free training centre.


Your Training Grounds

The second thing that I highly recommend using your first gold on, is starting a newspaper. A newspaper will cost you 2 gold, but is a good investment. Use your first article to introduce yourself to the community and share your first views. Some good advice for a first article is to come across as willing to learn, energetic, and friendly – this will be most likely to get a positive reaction from the community. Don’t worry too much about the quality of your writing or the length of your articles – older citizens are always happy to be introduced to a new active citizen and they will be very welcoming as long as you come across as friendly.

At what point as a Division 1 citizen should you actually begin to fight as opposed to just training and biding your time?

Great question. As a division one soldier the reality is that you have limited effect on battles, so your main goals should be:

1. Hoard strength and avoid entering Division 2 (Level 25) for as long as reasonable. Remember, "strength" attribute is your friend and "experience" attribute is your enemy.

2. Win gold through medals. So fight when you're comfortable that you can get a battle-hero medal out of it. If you've won at least one battle-hero medal also fight during battles that eIreland is in because this will bring you true patriot medals.

So in short, start fighting when doing so brings you medals. This will mean that your strength is dominant in Division 1, and that you're making the most of the easy gold in Division 1.

Conclusion
Thanks for those great questions and please keep 'em coming. Citizens new and old are invited to ask questions and I'll do my best to find out the answers. If I don't know the answer then I can just post it here to see if someone else does!

Cheers!