Join the new world

Sorry this a bit of huge one but I didn't want to split it up... here goes...

There are 60 countries in eRepublik at the moment. But I believe that all widely recognised & independent countries of the real world (196) deserve to be represented in eRepublik. Opening up new lands would give new opportunities to businesses, new strategies for the military planners, and importantly for Admin, new players. Imagine a eKiribati or eMicronesia bridging that gap between eIndonesia and South America? Or a eEgypt teeming with new players ready to fight for Eden or Phoenix, or maybe even head up its own alliance?

What is a problem however is that many of the countries not currently in the game do not have the real life population, or internet penetration, to support a eRepublik nation.

Example:- Norway. RL pop 4,850,440 http://www.ssb.no/english/subjects/02/befolkning_en/
eRep pop 997 (day 807)

At the same rate (0.02055😵 eIceland would have a eRep pop of 65. eLiechtenstein would have 7. Poor little eNauru would have a population of just under 3. Not enough for even a few functioning companies. Not enough to keep a national treasury liquid. Not enough for defence.



So obviously if these countries - lets call them Micronations - were implemented they wouldn't be able to rely solely on RL native players. There would have to be something else to draw in existing players from other countries. Ok yes, TPO-ers would be attracted, but I'm talking about how would we boost the number of players in these smaller nations.

One way is to give them resources. This is the case for Uruguay and Singapore, the one-region countries Erep currently has. Uruguay has high grain, Singapore has medium oil and wood. But high resources makes neighbouring countries envious and they wouldn't be independent for long. Uruguay and Singapore are lucky with the neighbours they have. But how long do you think a eLiechtenstein with a high resource would last with eHungary just around the corner?

So what I'm proposing is that we create something for Micronations that give them an edge, a reason that people might move and live there, but that won't make them too much of a target. Decode Masala got me started thinking on this. So many thanks to him.

1) What many of the small countries around the world are famous for is Offshore banking.



I propose creating a new industry exclusively for Micronations: Banking. Banks can be created by citizens or organisations and would create interest for any funds that other citizens or orgs had deposited with them. They would work similarly to companies.

When created, banks would have a Gold account and one other Currency (which the manager can choose on creation). Deposits can then be accepted in gold and that other currency. Further currencies can be accepted when licenses are bought like a normal company.

Deposits are locked (neither the bank or the depositor can use the funds) until they are released a week later. This would stop accusations of stealing.

There would be no raw materials. Instead the manager would set an interest rate which would attract deposits. Employees can only work if the bank has deposits. Citizens or orgs looking to deposit their money would go the marketplace screen and pick the best interest rate for them. The deposit will always make the interest rate set - unless the bank goes bust and then all deposits are returned.

Employees of the bank would work as normal creating 'interest' instead of products. If employees make more interest than the rate you had set then you make a profit. If they don't then you make a loss. Obviously a high interest rate would attract more deposits but make less profit.

Only 5 deposits of gold and each currency can be accepted. This would stop too much gold/currency inflation.

A Q1 bank could accept 5 x 200 currency & 5 x 5 Gold.
A Q5 bank could accept 5 x 10,000 currency & 5 x 200 Gold

2) Tourism



Obviously some parts of the world are famous for tourism, and high quality tourism too. Imagine lying on a tropical beach - maybe in the eSeychelles or eSt Lucia? Or perhaps you would prefer skiing in eAndorra?

So what I propose is that just like raw materials each region of the world is given a tourism rating. When you visit a High Tourism region outside of your own country you will get happiness. Micronations with a high rating could then become tourist magnets, with a decent sized floating population feeding the treasury.

3) Different rules
As a start don't give Micronations the same amount of starting funds as a regular country. This would possibly put off some TPOs.

The government of a Micronation has all the power of a normal government except:

It cannot declare war. It can have MPPs but it can never take over other territory.
Instead of embargoes it has ‘freeze assets’. So if it decides it doesn’t like Country A then it can freeze all of the deposits Country A has in its banks. No interest would be made on the deposit. This could be a powerful tool in wars.

Micronations can be conquered. If it is conquered then all deposits from all banks are immediately frozen accept those from the conquerer and its allies (which are immediately released). But importantly the conquering country cannot use or create any banks in that conquered region anymore. Banks can only be created and run under a micronation government.