[NSC] Empire and Determination Updates

Day 2,191, 16:11 • Published in USA USA • by Gnilraps
Small Change (Mandatory listening)
Day 2191 of the New World
19 November, 2013




Today Plato announced another new game-changing update to this little sandbox of ours. As your National Security Council Director, I want to discuss a few of the implications of these changes with you, the fighting public.

EMPIRE NATIONS
It is now possible for an eRepublik nation to establish itself as an "Empire". An Empire, as explained by Plato's game update, is a country that dominates the New World through its extreme military power and vast territories. In order to be declared as an Empire in eRepublik, a nation needs to gather enough Country Power.

The only discernible advantage of being an "Empire", according to the explanation provided, is status. In other words, Plato has not announced any tactical advantage to being an "Empire". This is an important point to keep in mind.



Plato did go on to define what "Country Power" is all about.

Country Power is a combination of:

1 - Military Power - The offensive capability of all the active soldiers enrolled in Military Units, taking into account their division and,

2 - Controlled Regions - The number of regions owned, taking into account both original and conquered regions. (Regions conquered from nations with high Military Power are worth more than regions conquered from nations with low Military Power. Also, the longer a conquered region is held, the more it is worth.)



In addition to the (as far as I can tell useless) "Empire" designation, Plato also informed us that as of day 2192 regions that are under foreign occupation accumulate something called "Determination."

Determination
The bottom line of "Determination" is that as a region's Determination (for resistance) rises, so does the damage dealt by citizens fighting to liberate it.

The calculation used for Determination has not yet been revealed, but what is clear is that Determination grows with the passage of time. A region that has been occupied for 200 days yields a greater Determination bonus than a region that was more recently captured.

You can read a little more about Determination and Empires here.


So how does this change our approach to military strategy and Foreign Policy?

1 - Resistance Wars are easier to win.
Duh. And some Resistance Wars will be absolutely STOOPIDLY easy to win.

At first glance this may seem like a relatively good thing. However I am not so sure. The eUSA has always been a nation which succeeded by out-coordinating and out-smarting our enemies. We have historically beaten nations superior to ours in "Military Power" by sheer teamwork.

But with the recent introduction of the Freedom Fighter Medal which rewards easy Gold merely by fighting in successful Resistance Wars, coordination of Damage has gotten much (MUCH) more difficult. Our primary advantage has been greatly diminished by FF Gold hunters. Combine that with what is sure to be an even greater proliferation of "winning" Resistance Wars, and we may be faced with relative Military Anarchy! More so than ever, it will be every citizen fighting for himself. That's very bad.





2 - Airstrikes Are More Useful

In the past, there was very rarely an instance when an Airstrike produced a desirable Strategic advantage (explaining why eUSA has never even launched one).

But now that the odds of victory in a given RW have gone up, the Airstrike becomes a significant factor in creating a "point of entry" in creating a land barrier. A properly placed land barrier can effectively cut off an enemy nation from the Resource Bonuses it enjoys from conquered territories.

Combat Orders are even more important now.

The only proven way to get citizens to fight where directed is to pay them to fight there. The Freedom Fighter medal is proving that. Combat Orders also proved that it is possible to buy victory - though it's never cheap.

I am of the growing opinion that the days of supplying tanks to troops is OVER. The only way to make sure every dime of military spending is spent where the NSC wants it spent is to directly pay MU members via Combat Orders. We have already seen numerous examples of USAF members (as well as members of prominent eUS Military Units) fighting against NSC orders in Resistance Wars in pursuit of Freedom Fighter Gold. Are our USAF soldiers spending tanks purchased with US Tax money on unauthorized battles?

Not if we spend our Defense Budget through Combat Orders.



I sincerely hope that our Government will very seriously consider changing our method of supply.



Questions

Will Albania lose India? Albania has been hiving in Indian regions for over 4 months now. Determination among Indians will be high.

Will China lose Pakistan? Punjab, for instance, has been under Chinese occupation for 824 days. That's some determination!

How will Poland and eUSA work out the return of the final United States under occupation in the Eastern Seaboard? They have been under occupation for over 4 months and the Determination will make it very costly for Poland to retain them.



In general, it seems that the overall gist of Plato's latest game changes are an effort to create a growing momentum for the map to normalize itself back to its original regions.

As such, I am hugely in favor of these changes and I look forward to seeing how many more subtleties in strategy are born out of these updates.

I look forward to see which nations fall into the trap of chasing down "Empire" status which, as far as I can tell means absolutely nothing.


You may now return to your regularly scheduled clicking