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WARNING: This article is quite long. I do hope you'll read it, or at least parts of it.

Improving eRepublik

Introduction

This article is my opinion on what would make eRepublik more interesting and fun. It's intended to get people thinking about what they want to see in their game, and also to share some ideas with the eRepublik Team, should they want to make any changes that I suggest in this article. Hopefully the eRepublik team will read it and use some ideas if they are popular and they like them, so in that case, I would encourage my reader's to comment about what you'd like to see added or changed within the game, and what you like and do not like within my article. Thank you and enjoy.

Strategy in Military

eRepublik is a strategy game that is lacking strategy. In the past there was a bit more strategy involved in the game, specifically in the military module. Once I heard that initiative was being reintroduced to the game, I was happy. It was one of the main parts of the military module that required well thought-out military planning, and I was excited to see it return. I still think that initiative is an important factor within the military aspect of eRepublik, and it needs to stay. However, there are some changes that need to be made to other parts of the strategy of eRepublik. What, you may ask, are the benefits of adding new ways to create strategy and add more to the military module? Well, to begin with, having a game that requires strategy encourages people to think differently, and come up with new strategies of their own and war theories, etc. This allows for more players to get involved, allows for people to make a name for themselves as the next great military strategist/theorist, the next Sun Tzu of the eWorld.Here's what I think should happen:

1. Revert the Mutual Protection Pact Rules. Previously, Mutual Protection Pacts (henceforth known as MPPs) were only activated when an attack was made against the original/home regions of a country. [SIDE NOTE: If I am not mistaken, wars were also opened if an allied country was attacked, something like that, I do not remember exactly, so I will only include this as a side note, if anyone can confirm or deny this, or tell me exactly what I am thinking of if I am mistaken, that is greatly appreciated.] MPPs were not activated if non-original regions (colonies) were attacked. Furthermore, if a country invaded another, the invading country's MPPs were not activated unless they were attacked by the defending country, if it gained initiative so that it could attack. Finally, if an MPP was activated, it did not become inactive until that war was closed, adding another level of strategy to war, since military leaders and Presidents had to always keep tabs on what MPPs were open. I believe that reverting the MPP rules back to how they were just awhile back. I believe that bringing these rules back will bring a welcomed level of strategy that we had previously, giving the war module more of it's strategical aspect back.

2. Reinstate the Retreat Button. Retreating battles is a strategy in war. Often times battles are retreated to "swap" your allied countries through yours to reach another goal. This is done by having that country invade yours, and retreating each battle in cooperation with your ally so that they may pass through your country, whether to attack another nation, or to defend your nation from attack. This is an important part of strategy that is now missing from this largely war based game. Retreating was not only used for swapping purposes, but also as a way to turn the tide of a war. Previously, if an invading country had initiative, the invaded country could, under certain circumstances, retreat an attacked region to gain initiative and launch a counter-offensive. Retreating is part of strategy in war, it's about fighting the battle when you are ready, or allowing allies to move through your territory and working together for mutual benefit; it is my opinion that this feature should be returned to the game.

3. Allow multiple battles in a war to be fought at once. With multiple battles in a war there is a sense of uncertainty as a defender, you will never know for sure where the real invasion force is landing, so to say. This is a world renowned tactic, it's been used in real life wars on multiple occasions and is a legitimate strategy with a good chance of success, if done correctly. Previously, this strategy could be used, however, the ability to have multiple battles going was removed along with many of the recent updates. Returning this feature to the wars of the New World would bring back another level of strategy is a good change, in my opinion.

4. Remove auto-attack mode. One of the changes that came to the military module recently was the addition of a feature that made it so a battle would be started automatically if the country president who had initiative did not select a battle. I think this is not a good feature for a few reasons. First, it can hinder the strategic process. As we all know, some regions are more important that others. A country may invade another country for the sole purpose of getting through to one region, the best way to do that is take the quickest path there. However, with this feature it can mess things up, and slow down the process, or even turn the tides of war. The out come of a war should not be decided by a battle that possibly should not and would not have been fought in that campaign. Secondly, once the desired region(s) is/are conquered, it can be useful to keep a war open but not fight any battles unless necessary, since if that is to happen then it is usually just wasted damage and supplies. This brings me to my next point...

5. Make it so that wars do not close unless a country is completely conquered or peace is signed, whether there is a shared border or not. Simple as that. It adds more to think about when waging wars, and thus creates more strategy.

6. Allow multiple Resistance Wars to be started in military campaigns. This very recent change has further empowered, even further, the stronger larger countries of the New World. This change allows eSuperpowers to hold onto their colonies even easier than they could before, which still wasn't that hard. It takes more away from the smaller populated/weaker countries. It does that by taking away a popular strategy used by smaller countries, or even larger ones (which I mentioned before), which is to open multiple battles as a distraction and focus on only one of these battles. It's an extremely viable strategy used by militaries in eCountries all over the New World, big and small. But it's even more important for smaller countries trying to fight off invasion from bigger countries. Small countries do not have a shot against invading or occupying larger countries if they cannot divert the stronger country's military forces. Bringing multiple RWs back is important to strategy of every country, especially smaller ones.These are some of what I believe are important changes to be made to the game. In my opinion, they will make eRepublik strategy more fun and entertaining, which is why we're here after all. Of course, this list is not all inclusive, there could be more, and if you have ideas, I'd love to hear them in the comments. So post below! 😉 Many of the other changes I will speak of in this article will revolve around strategy. Possibly even in military, but they are not completely military related, and thus I have placed them in other sections. Strategy will be a continued theme throughout the rest of this article.

Political Change

Let us not forget that eRepublik is not just a war game. War is one of the main, most exciting and popular parts of the game. However, another of the parts of this game is politics. War and politics are greatly intertwined, one often leading to the other, and there are plenty of different ways to improve the political module and make it even more fun.

1. Allow different types of government. eRepublik is a world simulation game, essentially. As we know, not every country is a democratic republic. There are multiple variations of many different types of governments, so why isn't there the ability to change the type of government in eRepublik? I'm not sure, but I do think there should be one. This change would add, again, another level of strategy to both the political and military aspects of the game.

2. Create a Cabinet feature for the elected leader of a country. These positions would be optional to have, and would be the Cabinet of the elected President. They would include positions multiple positions, the titles of which could be edited, however the main jobs of the positions would remain the same. There would be positions such as a leader of defense, a position for foreign affairs, for economics, for media, etc. These positions could be chosen by Presidential candidates before an election, and could be edited as necessary. In order to make sure that there would be stability in government, each position would only be able to be changed once every 7 days, much like the impeachment proposal rules today. Changes to the cabinet would be chosen by the President/Leader of the country. Additionally, the person chosen by the President to be second in command would be able to attack regions if the President were offline for more than a set of time, for example 12 hours. Furthermore, the person in charge of defense would also be given the same power in starting battles as the second in command, with the exact same regulations. Those in the cabinet would be given the ability to propose laws to congress only in their specific field. The second in command would be able to propose anything to congress that the leader him/herself is able to do.

3. Give parties a newspaper. With the removal of organizations, many organizations that political parties use to contact their members, especially with a newspaper, will be gone. However, having a political newspaper is important. If each party had it's own newspaper, that could be written in by the elected Party President each month, then it would solve this problem.

4. Political organizations. Political Parties are essentially organizations. So, why do they not have the benefits that come with organizations? This idea expands upon the one from above, involving newspapers. Political party's should also be able to create their own companies that can be run by the Party President (and/or an official chosen by the PP, see below). Political Parties would not be able to have any friends, just members like now. They also would not be able to vote on articles. They would be able to be accessed by the Party President and a couple of chosen officials (again, see below), so as to encourage more political activity by getting more involved in the party, and also to help Party Presidents manage their parties. Furthermore, political parties should be able to create companies that their members can work in, which would be run via the party organization by the Party President and Economist (see below). This is extremely relevant and useful, since many parties, especially socialist/communist parties, already create their own companies for members to work in. This change would further support them and the members of their party.

5. Party positions. There should be more positions within a political party, not just the party president. Possible positions within a party could be: Newspaper editor (along with Party President would be able to write articles in Party Newspaper), Economist (along with Party President would be able to control the funds within the party, and also operate any companies of the Party, if there were any). Of course, other positions could possibly be added, but I think these two would be the most helpful and best to start with. Also, the Party President would chose who would be in these positions (only one person in each position, and only one person per position). These positions would be optional. A Party President does not need to chose anyone to fill these position if he or she does not want to. It's just away to help manage a party, and make things run efficiently and smoothly.

6. Localized politics. I am not exactly sure how this would be achieved, but I know many people I've spoken with have mentioned it as well. I do think it would be quite entertaining to have local politics as well as national. Some sort of governor type position would be an interesting addition. Would also have monthly elections just like the other positions.There are, of course, plenty of other changes that would make good changes to the political aspect of eRepublik, these are just a few that I've thought of. Again, if you have any other ideas, I would love to read about them in the comments.

Economics

I must begin here by saying that I am currently not very involved in the Economic Module of eRepublik, and thus do not know a lot of what should be changed, etc. However, I do have at least one idea. Hopefully I will be able to think of some more in the future. 😛

1. Trade Agreements. This is a bit of a mixture between Economics and Politics. I propose that there is a new law able to be proposed by Congress, called Trade Agreement. This would be law that would last 30 days, like Trade Embargoes. During these thirty days, the two countries that agreed to the proposal would be able to buy export liscenses for a discounted price, thus encouraging trade between those two countries. Perhaps it would be possible for countries that have a Trade agreement with one another would be able to have their citizens open companies within the partner company without citizenship. Not sure, but I suppose it's a possiblity.

Again, if you have more ideas, please post them in the comments below. I'm not really involved in the economical aspect of eRepublik, and as such I do not have very many ideas to change it.

Media

There's a few changes I would make to the Media Module of eRepublik.

1. Remove citizenship requirements for posting. Requiring an author to have the citizenship of the country he or she wishes to post in is not necessary. All this does is block communication between countries, especially smaller ones. Furthermore, it makes it far more difficult for writers within small countries to reach a large enough audience to get the media mogul medal, or just to get the recognition that many of them deserve.

2. Allow for better coding. Allowing writers to use more coding gives better customization of articles, and allows writers to differentiate themselves from one another with the unique designs of their articles.

If you have any more ideas for the media part of eRepublik then, again, please post them in the comments below. 😃

Conclusion

Many advocate the popular phrase, "Keep it simple, stupid." However, while I believe that this popular mantra is a good one, it is only good when used at the correct times and sparingly. In my opinion, if you want to have a successful and entertaining strategy game there needs to be at least some level of complexity. Without complexity everything becomes boring, routine, and unexciting. Having at least some sort of complexity forces people to actually think strategically, well, to actually think at all. It allows for players to become the next great military strategist, or economic theorist, etc. A bit more complexity is needed within eRepublik, and I think the aforementioned points are good ways to bring a level of complexity back to the game, at the very least they're a good place to start.

Thank you for reading, if you read all the way through, it is quite a long article. There are, of course, many other ways to change and improve eRepublik, the above are just some things I have been thinking about. I hope you have enjoyed the read, and I am interested to hear whether or not you think any of my ideas are good ones, or what you would change or add. So, if you have any improvements to add, or just different changes all together, I encourage you to post in the comments below.

Regards,
Alex Drex