Join the new world

First: Remember to Keep the Dream Alive and Honor the Spirit of Crazy Horse by voting for Phoenix Quinn for Congerz on the 25th of May from South Dakota on the iNCi (South Carolina Ulku Ocaklari) ticket. Sponsored by iNCi, representing the SFP and endorsed by the BoL and Dumb Emma, a vote for PQ is a vote for a new language of freedom.



Relax. Take a deep breath. It's just a game. Dream a little dream.



The following is the next in what is hopefully a series of lectures on "How to Survive and Thrive in eRepublik". If you haven't already read it, kindly check out my philosophical introduction on this topic.




An Economic strategy for surviving and thriving in eRepublik
============================================

by Phoenix Quinn, Dean of the SFP Academy, Doctor of ePhilosophy, Chair of the Department of Spectacular Studies, Ursa Emeritus, and Resident Lecturer in Bogdanovianism at the SFP Academy, with huge contributions from Thedillpickl, Doctor of Philosophy with a Chair in Pickles, and Lysander Spooner II, patron saint of the SFP and an all-round awesome dude.



There are tons of articles on game mechanics and advice for succeeding in eRepublik at every level. This new site Erepublik Tools and Tuts, put together by hardworking citizen Mike Ontry, has a pretty kick-ass collection of them.

I refer to the following outline of a strategy for individual economic growth as "The Pickl Principles", named after my good friend a and great mentor of new players, Thedillpickl. Any worthiness in this strategy goes to him. Any errors or mistakes are my own.

The Pickl Principles are in three parts: a strategy for New Players, a strategy for All Players and a strategy for Commune Owner/Managers.



I am not going to focus on the bare essentials of what buttons to click. Most of that is self-evident and there is in-game help, as well as the eRepublik wiki to help with that. Also, many political parties and governments provide mentor programs. If you do need assistance at that level, be sure to join a Party forum and seek out such advice.




A few notes on terminology
===========================




"Q" refers to the quality level of item, like a Town Center, Training Center, Weapon or Food. Q1 is the lowest level, Q5 or Q6 is the highest.

"CC" is the generic term for any non-gold currency, like USD (US dollars).

"Level" is your player level. It starts at 1 and goes up to, who knows, infinity and beyond! You should seek to reach level 20 within a week or so.

"RM" is raw materials. There are two kinds: those needed to produce food are Food Raw Materials ("FRM"); those needed to produce weapons are Weapons Raw Materials ("WRM").

"Factory" refers to a company that produces Food or Weapons.

"Company" refers to any kind of raw materials or manufacturing building.



The Pickl Principles For New Players
==========================================



1. Don't spend gold on useless things. Until you get the hang of it, ask for directions before spending gold.




2. Getting to a Q5 Town Center and a Q2 Training Ground will help you to advance quickly early in the game. Upgrading the Town Center and the Training Facility should be your first priorities. These upgrades can be purchased as you reach various levels and buy certain types of factories and RM resources.

Town Centers increase the amount of Health you can recover. They are bought with CC:

Level 1: Q1 Town Center, Free
Level 5: Q2 Town Center, 100 CC, Q1 Food factory, Grain farm
Level 10: Q3 Town Center, 250 CC, Q1 Weapon factory, Iron mine
Level 15: Q4 Town Center, 500 CC, Q2 Food factory, Fruits orchard
Level 20: Q5 Town Center, 1000 CC, Q2 Weapon factory, Aluminum mine

Training Facilities increase your Strength. They can be used once per day. There are different types of them each of them has Q levels. A Q1 Training Ground is free. Initial construction of other types is paid for with CC; upgrades with Gold. Use of any Training Facility other than Training grounds costs gold each time you use them. New players should focus only on Training grounds.

Initial cost: Free
Upgrade to Q2: 20 Gold




3. New players should strive to obtain one each: a Q3 Food Factory and a Q3 Weapon Factory, along with the RM buildings to support them.

Raw materials (RM's) are products used to manufacture Food and Weapons. Buildings are the farms, orchards and so forth used to extract the raw materials. You have to own the appropriate type of Building in order to access raw materials.

There are different types of FRMs and WRMs. No country naturally has access to all of them. To be able to use them, your country must own or occupy a region that has the RM and that region must be connected to your country's capital. You do not have to be located in a region to use that RM, but your country must have access to one or more regions where the RM is located.

Obtaining access to RM's is a major cause of wars in eRepublik. The more RM's a country has access to, the more bonuses it receives, which will increase your productivity.

Although FRM and WRM Buildings are not listed as having a "Q" level, they do come in five quality levels. Each increase in quality produces more materials than lower quality RM buildings. When somebody says "a Q2 Food RM", they are usually referring to the Building needed to produce Food Raw Materials, as opposed to the resource itself.

Food RM Buildings:
Q1 FRM -- Grain -- 1500 CC (You get three for free to start with)
Q2 FRM -- Fruit -- 3000 CC
Q3 FRM -- Fish -- 10 Gold
Q4 FRM -- Cattle -- 8500 CC
Q5 FRM -- Hunting -- 35 Gold

Weapon RM Buildings:
Q1 WRM -- Iron -- 1500 CC
Q2 WRM -- Oil -- 3000 CC
Q3 WRM -- Aluminum -- 10 Gold
Q4 WRM -- Saltpeter -- 8500 CC
Q5 WRM -- Rubber -- 35 Gold

Raw materials can be sold on the market, or used to produce manufactured goods. Raw Materials Buildings can be liquidated for a fixed price.


Manufacturing:
Factories produce Food and Weapons. The higher the quality of a manufactured good, the more use it has and the higher price it commands.

Food and Weapons factories come in 6 levels: Q1 to Q6. You get a free Q1 Food Factory to start with.

Unlike Raw Materials Buildings, which cannot be upgraded, Factories can be upgraded (or downgraded).

Q1 factories can be purchased for 10 Gold.

The cost of upgrades increases as the Quality of the Factory increases.




To summarize, new players should focus on the following achievements:

a. Get a job so you will earn some income. You can also work in your own companies, but you only receive a wage when working for someone else. Do both.
b. Work every day, both at your wage job and for your own companies.
c. Train every day at the Training ground. This will improve your strength.
d. Fight every day, as this will improve your rank (level). But only fight to the extent that you can recover your Health.
e. Do not spend Gold unless you are sure it is a good investment.
f. Upgrade to Q2 Town Center as soon as you reach Level 5.
g. Buy a weapon factory and an iron mine or two.
h. Upgrade to Q3 Town Center when you reach Level 10.
i. Upgrade to a Q2 Food Factory and buy a fruit orchard or two.
j. Upgrade to Q4 Town Center when you reach Level 15.
k. Upgrade to Q2 Weapon Factory and buy an oil rig or two.
l. Upgrade to Q5 Town Center when you reach Level 20.
m. Upgrade to Q2 Training Ground as soon as you can afford to.
n. Upgrade to Q3 Food Factory and buy a fishery or two.
o. Upgrade to Q3 Weapon Factory and buy an aluminum mine or two.

At this point -- probably a few weeks into the game -- you should be self-sufficient or mostly self-sufficient in Food production. This means that, assuming you are not selling food on the market, you produce enough Food to fully support your own Health recovery every day.

Don't be concerned about being "a tank" (a super soldier) yet. Fighting bare-handed (without weapons) is fine. Most militias are willing to provide a certain amount of weapons to loyal members, so do consider joining a militia. The eUSA Government (and other Governments) also sponsor weapons give-aways from time to time. Do consider respectfully declining, for now, offers from those militias that require you to work in a "low-wage commune", as that will slow down your ability to reach your initial economic goal of self-sufficiency.



The Pickl Principles For All Players
==========================================

First, a bit more terminology:




"Commune": There are various types. This is a player-initiated concept, not something built into the game. It refers to an organization of companies that supports a common goal, typically to produce weapons and sometimes food for a particular militia. Some militias require their members to work in specific companies that are referred to as "communes".

"Military Commune": a commune aimed at supporting a particular militia.

"Civilian Commune"" usually refers to a communal or cooperative organization with a social goal other than supporting a militia. Sometimes used to refer to any such mutual aid companies that are not associated with the US Armed Forces, which is the "official" collection of militias backed by the eUSA Government.

"Low-wage Commune": most (but not all) communes employ some form of low-wage strategy. This means they pay out a minimum or low daily wage, but provide compensation instead in the form of weapons (or sometimes food) provided by donation to militia members. The distribution method varies from commune to commune. Some require filling out a google form or making a request in some way; others distribute "goodies" automatically to their workers.

"Profit-share" or "Co-op": a company that, like a commune, typically pays out a low daily wage, but distributes a bonus (usually weekly) in CC (local currency), based on a percentage of the weekly profits. This type of distribution is also referred to as "tax free wages" since Income Tax does not apply to CC donations. A variation on this is a "Taxable Co-op", where daily wages are set to match closely to total weekly profit -- and therefore are adjusted often.




1. All players, whether running a commune or not, should strive to have primarily Q4 RM companies, for both Food and Weapons.

All things considered, Quality level 4 raw materials companies tend to offer the best rate of return on investment over time.




2. All players above level 25 should dissolve their 3 Grain Companies.

Once you get to a certain level, the health spent working for a Q1 FRM company is not worth the amount of resources produced.


3. All players should consider dissolving any RM companies that are not Q4 or Q5.

Q4 RM companies tend to offer the best overall ratio of cost to benefit. You will optimize your production by concentrating on having Q4 (or if you can afford it, Q5) raw materials buildings.





4. All players should work, train and fight as much as possible to advance and win gold.

There are multiple 5 gold rewards that are accrued by working, training and fighting. These include:

* Hard Worker medal. Awarded for working 30 days in a row.
* Super Soldier medal. Awarded for periodic increases in strength.
* True Patriot medal. Awarded for accumulating damage in battles for your country.
* Mercenary medal. Awarded for accumulating damage in battles for other countries.

As you progress in strength, rank and resources, additional types of medals can also be won, like Battle Hero and Campaign Hero awards.



The Pickl Principles For Commune Owners
==========================================

A "commune owner" is simply a player who has chosen, or who has been selected by his or her community, to operate a collection of companies in a communal or cooperative style.

A commune owner has some particular responsibilities since they have agreed to help support a group or community goal. Along with handling the distribution of payouts or goodies, the commune manager is also concerned with optimizing the productivity of the enterprise.





1. Commune owners should have NOTHING BUT Q4 RM companies (unless they are Q5's.)


2. Commune owners need to have at least three Q4 RM companies per employee.

A well-run commune should not be buying raw materials from the market. It should produce enough raw materials to support its manufacturing capability.

3. Commune owners should have Q5 manufacturing companies (or Q6 if possible). It is better for a commune to produce Weapons than Food.

Q5 and especially Q6 weapons are the most sought-after commodity on eRep markets and they provide the highest returns.

While a Food commune can be profitable and useful, weapons manufacturing will usually produce a better overall return for the group.

A large community might want to have a Food commune in order mainly to support newer players who are not yet self-sufficent (this is sometimes referred to as a "charity commune"), but in general a thriving community should have enough players producing exceess food individually to support newer players.








Well, that's it. I hope you found this useful.

Thanks again to Dr. Thedillpickl, as well as to Lysander Spooner II, for inspiring and providing much of the content for this lecture.


Now get out there and develop your great warrior spirit!


XXX,
PQ