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Congratulations Canada! (on proving me right)
Political debates and analysis
I am very happy to be in Ireland right now. For the first time in months, I can actually spend my money as I please and thus have got a few Battle Heroes with plenty of cash left over. Also, it was nice fighting for a country worth fighting for 
This message, however, is to my Canadian friends and subscribers. Doubtlessly though, the core idea (rational long term strategic thinking should trump momentary popularity) is easily applicable to Eire as well.
As an aside, I waited until now to post this in the perhaps vain belief that I won't be shouted down by people drunk with success.
London:
No resource bonus.
No rational ability to keep hold of it due to RW changes.
No future.
Huge amounts of gold used for momentarily pleasure.
Basically, taking London was the erepublik equivalent of taking cocaine.
Alaska:
Production bonus.
An ability to keep for an extended period against a non-hostile force.
Allows for future expansion and development in a non-Euro part of the world.
A gateway to something new and exciting.
Do you know why Canada lost Alaska? Because Canada's enemies assumed that Canada would make a rational strategic decision. Boy do they have egg on their faces!
Congratulations for proving me right, Government of Canada. Watching the gong show of the last few days, I've never felt better about leaving.
I know this is going to be summarily ignored, but the rational thoughtful people left (yes, all 20 of you) have got to stand up for policies that increase and enhance the country on a long term basis.
Resistance War rules have utterly changed how mid and lower tier countries can plot meaningful campaigns. Yes, its much easier to get back on the map now, but its also that much harder to keep anything of value without an agreement in place.
Listen. If Canada wants to continue to elect leaders who think of their own popularity over national self-interest, I'm obviously not in a position to stop it. I don't care about eCanada anymore, but I do care about some of the people in it. And those people need to think long and hard about how to change policy before it really is too late.
This message, however, is to my Canadian friends and subscribers. Doubtlessly though, the core idea (rational long term strategic thinking should trump momentary popularity) is easily applicable to Eire as well.
As an aside, I waited until now to post this in the perhaps vain belief that I won't be shouted down by people drunk with success.
London:
No resource bonus.
No rational ability to keep hold of it due to RW changes.
No future.
Huge amounts of gold used for momentarily pleasure.
Basically, taking London was the erepublik equivalent of taking cocaine.
Alaska:
Production bonus.
An ability to keep for an extended period against a non-hostile force.
Allows for future expansion and development in a non-Euro part of the world.
A gateway to something new and exciting.
Do you know why Canada lost Alaska? Because Canada's enemies assumed that Canada would make a rational strategic decision. Boy do they have egg on their faces!
Congratulations for proving me right, Government of Canada. Watching the gong show of the last few days, I've never felt better about leaving.
I know this is going to be summarily ignored, but the rational thoughtful people left (yes, all 20 of you) have got to stand up for policies that increase and enhance the country on a long term basis.
Resistance War rules have utterly changed how mid and lower tier countries can plot meaningful campaigns. Yes, its much easier to get back on the map now, but its also that much harder to keep anything of value without an agreement in place.
Listen. If Canada wants to continue to elect leaders who think of their own popularity over national self-interest, I'm obviously not in a position to stop it. I don't care about eCanada anymore, but I do care about some of the people in it. And those people need to think long and hard about how to change policy before it really is too late.
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Can't dispute the logic, but...
ME WANT ME NORN IRON!
Party pooping on a Monday morning shouldn't be allowed by law.
_____________________//
/me snorts line of London
""Basically, taking London was the erepublik equivalent of taking cocaine.""
: D
we always ignore the voice of reason.
"we always ignore the voice of reason" so that we can have fun. Who wants to do lines with me?
It's unfair to neglect that London battle united the country for a while , but to be more realistic it caused us a huge damage to our economy ,but it was expected sooner or later to distract us from our asian campaign .
It hurts really a lot to feel how much blind we 've turned to
Was worth it.
Agree 100%
What a waste.
I agree with this article.
We should never invade another country because fighting is boring. We should just work and train errrrrrrryday.
Stupid move by a stupid CP.........
We should bring back that genius who gave us Alaska and the Japan war.........
"Huge amounts of gold used for momentarily pleasure."
Hey hey, there's nothing wrong with momentarily pleasure. Not that there are any other kinds mind you, everything is temporary.
But the bottom line is that as a player i'd rather be able to say Canada was the first to take London in 4 years, than say I had +2 weapons for a week. Why would we get more weapons anyway other than to win victories? Don't let the means to an end become the goal itself.
Ideally we should have a government that aims for stability, but is not averse to taking a bit of risk sometimes for fun. But if I had to choose between the two extremes, I'd rather have fun in the end. You said it yourself, with the new RW system it is easy to keep or get back our territories, so this allows a more aggressive style of play.
Speaking for myself, it is not so much that I have abandoned my understanding of rational policies, but I have despaired of them achieving ascendancy and so don't really beat myself up over this sort of thing anymore. There is a limit to how many time you can be told by people that we should do x and y "for the lulz" before you stop expecting anything else.
The recent campaign is actual proof of what happens when your heart rules your head. But people aren't just head, they need to be motivated to be active etc. What good is being erich? You can't spend the money you earn here irl.
I have argued against wars with the UK until i was blue in the mouth, only to have the dogs bray for someone to "Acacia teh button". Those that put themselves forward as the rational players couldn't get their collective act together enough to get their names on the ballot except they be joined to Rolo.
This is what Aeriela campaigned on. We took London. We lost our resource bonus. I am not surprised.
Mencken wrote that "democracy is based upon the notion that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard." This is what people voted for.
The task of the more experienced players is to try and patiently explain to the newbies what is rational foreign policy and why it is superior to a reflexive or emotional foreign policy. This, i suggest, has to be big on patient forbearance with ridiculous claims and low on "I told you so"s.
Jacobi, you're still the God-Emperor of eCanada, no matter what people want to say or believe. All Hail Jacobi, and I'm glad you're happy in eIreland. You needed to get away from the nonsense that is eCanada.
Snorting cocaine on his London terrace he wonders. "What happened to my production bonus?"
Sometimes in this game we have to make decisions that, on paper, seem counterintuitive to what we need as a whole. To lose the resource bonuses is surely a miserable side effect...call it the hangover from the night of drinking in London. Did we give something up to get something else? Yes, certainly. Was it worth it? Depends who you ask but I would say yes...but I am biased.
Here is the thing. London represented something that was often sought but never had. It had become the monkey on the back of the nation...a single reminder that although we can do many things, and do them well, we were just not good enough to take the big prize. Was their an impact to the collective psyche of the nation? Sure there was. Its like the girl who keeps rejecting you when you ask her out on a date...until the one time she says yes, you all get drunk, and before you know it, your in the backseat of your car and she is pregnant...you regret it later but while it was happening...it was REAL GOOD!
At the end of the day, this win did not reap any tangible rewards, but it did unite not only us, but our allies, and it smashed the glass ceiling we may have placed on our military prowess.
For one night, eCanada was the Bride, instead of the bridesmaid.
The collective worth of that victory psychologically can not be measured using numbers...
At the end of the day, this win did not reap any tangible rewards, but it did unite not only us, but our allies, and it smashed the glass ceiling we may have placed on our military prowess.
+1
I sat at the sidelines and didn't fight in any round of the London fight except the last one. When I saw we might actually do it, and how close it was, I couldn't resist. Exciting stuff!
Morning-after regrets? Not that many. Acacia's metaphor works for me. It was prom night. Remember when smart George Costanza calculated the odds that he's ever get a chance to sleep with the Portugeuse cleaning lady and had to take it? After coming close so many times, we had to go for it.
Was the whole idea a bad one? Sure. But that doesn't mean it was all bad.
I am philosophically open to the concept that the psychological impact of winning London will reinvigorate Canada and lead to future successes.
I just don't see it as likely, certainly not enough that I feel it an intelligent move.
As a person who neither smokes, nor does drugs, and rarely drinks, I can't really empathize with the other line of argument presented. I spent my prom night sober, then went home and slept uneventfully.
We can always get our region bonuses back.
I was against the UK invasion as well, but in the end when London had a chance to fall, I went all-in. I think you can easily turn your words on UK: if the region had no rational value in-game, and could be easily re-taken, why defend it so hard?
Because it was fun.
I noticed you fought for Canada, after all ~_^
London was worth it if Canada has the conviction to finish what they started. The oil bonus lost in Alaska will be regained once all of eEngland is "Canada Red" on the world map.
Boy this cocaine is pretty great, boys shall we have a little ski'ing session this friday?
RW's can be started by anyone at anytime, it has nothing to do with our war strategy. If people want them to succeed, they can spend the money to do so, regardless of what we do. Equating a loss of Alaska as a fall out from a victory in London is non sequitur.
I still have to argue from a purely economic perspective that losing control over Alaska and Minnesota was about the worst thing that happened in the last few days.
I snorted some London with TemujinBC and that shit was gooood.
I miss my extra production.
I'm sorry to hear your prom night was so crap. Shoulda held it in London....
WELCOME TO IRELAND
Going on campains and having fun leads to higher new player retention and keeps the older players around. If you want to measure if a CP did a good job, check the next president election, if the voter base increases he/she made the game more interesting.
if you ask me, it was worth it. its like saving money for something at the bank. sure you will loose all interest, but you have to remember why you put it therre at the first place. monney is no good if you dont spend it!
same thing with the battle. i am proud to say that i was therre when we took london!!!
vive le canada!!
Umad Jacobi? i did what you never could? Greatest CP, your whining and buttloving did nothing.
stay classy Canada.
Mad?
I'm relieved. I almost thought I made the wrong decision
whining & buttloving.
Dosen't that just paint a picture >(^^)<
Momentary pleasure?
A chunk of British pride was destroyed FOREVER.
This campaign cost a lot of money?
For the enemy also mate.
"Momentary pleasure?
A chunk of British pride was destroyed FOREVER."
Got a lil tune going there.
I was not a fan of the initial UK campaign, but when I saw the battle for London progressing so well, I had to join in.
http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/if-i-could-wake-up-in-a-different-place-could-i-wake-up-as-a-different-person--1866986/1/20
Another brilliant article by Jacobi.
i miss this man!