Looking Back at Hello Kitty

Day 776, 19:24 • Published in USA USA • by Lieutenant Scheisskopf


Who outside of eRepublik thought Hello Kitty would get so many people worked up?

If anyone in the New World were to tell me before the Battle of Heilongjiang (Hello Kitty) that the real fireworks were going to take place after the fight, I would have said they were crazy. Unfortunately, the aftermath of the most epic battle in eRepublik history has unleashed an outrage in the eUSA unmatched in my time here. Without starting any finger-pointing of my own, I want to look back at the battle and offer my own conclusions, now that the dust is settling and cooler minds will hopefully prevail. Specifically, I hope to cover who gained and lost the most, what impact the outcome will have, and what can be learned from this critical battle, in as unbiased a way as possible.

The Facts
Let's start really basic here: there were two fronts on the Battle of Heilongjiang, one by the eUSA and one by eChina. Phoenix won both of these battles, and both sides spent thousands of gold tanking, arming civilians, and buying moving tickets. Individual citizens, myself included, spent their hard-earned gold and currency to support their countries or their allies. The Hello Kitty battlefields featured military personnel from all countries, and thousands of eUSA civilians fought from home against thousands of eHungarians.
The defense ministries of both the eUSA and eHungary, along with prominent figures from both sides, encouraged citizens to spend gold, donate gold, buy gold, and berserk, all for the purpose of winning in Heilongjiang. Actions speak louder than words, and the actions indicated that Hello Kitty was to be the epic battle that everyone was waiting to see.

The Priorities
I previously suggested that the best way to see who really won a conflict or theater in this very complex war was to look at how costly it was for Phoenix or EDEN to win or lose there. Looking at Hello Kitty, eHungary obviously had to win there to stay; as many have noted, EDEN only has to win once at Heilongjiang to remove eHungary for good. Both sides could have used Hello Kitty to advance their campaigns in other regions, although the conflicting objectives of both alliances clashed so strongly in Heilongjiang that placing any other battle above it in importance, given other circumstances discussed below, would appear in hindsight to be short-sighted…

Success is not always as simple to understand as a definition on a post-it note

Objectively Defining “Success”
eHungary spent thousands of gold to keep their flag flying over Heilongjiang on Day 774, because eRussia was not available to start a blocking campaign or to threaten the eUSA more directly. eHungary also realized the grave threat to its high iron region (and by extension, their status as a world power), and did all in their power-- as would any responsible country-- to keep it that way. Declared eUSA intent placed the bulls-eye on Heilongjiang and sought to pull the lifeline eHungary has depended on for months. So for eHungary, the battle placed everything at stake and was worth everything they had. The eHungarian-Phoenix victory was decisive, and has become for them a source of propaganda and pride which gives closure to the cost of protecting Hello Kitty. Psychologically, following the string of defeats in Asia, Phoenix needed this feather in their cap.

The eUSA and EDEN have thus far defined their successes in Liaoning, Jharkhand, and Karnataka not in what the regions did for them, or in how much gold they were able to sap from Phoenix. Instead, the focus has been on how much pain an EDEN victory would inflict on Phoenix (recall the focus on “The Three Pillars”). When Liaoning and Jharkhand fell, EDEN rejoiced at liberating natural Chinese and Indian regions, but loudly proclaimed the toll that their loss would take on eIran’s economy; the same held true for Karnataka, when eIndonesia’s empire was forced to cope without an iron region to fuel its war machine. The outcome at Heilongjiang did not meet these definitions of success, and EDEN’s gains in other theaters of the war were not strategically important enough to call the Hello Kitty campaign on Days 773-774 a success.

“Success” in previous battles meant for EDEN that Phoenix left the battlefield crippled and without a critical high resource region. “Success” at Heilongjiang did not come to EDEN, and changing the parameters of success after the battle was fought is an unsuccessful attempt to rewrite history. The “Pyrrhic victory” claimed by some is misleading, as the eUSA and EDEN, in failing to conquer Hello Kitty, assured that eHungary still has its cash cow and chief source of wealth. For as long as eHungary holds Heilongjiang, their economy will continue to be as well-oiled as its military, and the gold spent on keeping Heilongjiang in their possession will be remade through taxes and revenue from iron and weapon sales. Not to mention that EDEN members spent significant amounts of money in the battle which offset eHungary’s expenses.

It is okay to look at Phoenix and concede that they bested EDEN that day, but making excuses or downplaying the results could spell doom for EDEN, if they refuse to learn from the battle and signal an air of arrogance if leaders deny the lessons a loss can teach.

Also Worth Considering

The eRussian Bear has returned to the Asian front, and its impact is starting to be felt

The Russian Factor
The Battle of Heilongjiang which was fought on Days 773 and 774 was probably the best chance EDEN had at removing Phoenix from eChina. EDEN had an advantage which no one has isolated in discussion-- eRussia was still sidelined by their permabanned president, whose significance has appeared in a number of my past articles. But now that eRussia has a new leader following a successful impeachment and seems to be making up for lost time by going after eChina as well as pursuing their region swapping with eNorth Korea to strike at EDEN positions, the window of opportunity for Hello Kitty could be vanishing.
Tragically for EDEN, eRussia is becoming the x-factor which I once thought they could become, and could jeopardize the entire Asian campaign now that they are actively fighting. Between eRussia’s weeks of inactivity and loss of initiative for Phoenix elsewhere, the eUSA had the best chance they were going to see in the immediate future, but failed to capitalize.

As the dust clears in Asia, it is evident what a revitalized eRussia has meant to future EDEN prospects in China if the eUSA and EDEN try the same approach. Very quickly, eRussia and eHungary have begun to turn the tables and dictate the direction of the war in its most important theater. EDEN not only lost this first battle for Heilongjiang, they have also lost the all-important initiative in Asia and are scrambling on the defensive. Maybe eRomania or ePoland could block the eRussians in the coming days, but EDEN's options are limited overall. Phoenix paid a hefty price to win Hello Kitty and now have the chance to run the eUSA and EDEN out of the continent.

Because the likelihood of reaching success in Hello Kitty has hit a low with eRussia’s resurgence, to have been defeated just a couple of days ago becomes even more significant for EDEN and the eUSA. The New World should have realized that eRussia would eventually return to the center of the war, and neglecting to take advantage of their absence-- or worse, denying that their return would matter-- appears to have been a dangerous oversight in long-term war planning.

[img]http://www.corbisimages.com:80/images/U1178949INP.jpg?size=67&uid=6B74FA30-76D0-4E6A-A2EF-14F3A61431DE[/img]
Wars change and seldom go as planned. The best change their tactics to meet their challenges.

Tactics
eHungary’s president, Feherlofia Koppany, is an admirable adversary and a very dedicated leader, to wait so late in the night in Hungary for the right time to hit EDEN where they were weakest: the region swaps adjacent to his territory. But focusing too closely on Feherlofia’s role overlooks the predictable routine which came to characterize EDEN’s tactics and allowed him this ability. Major battles started by the eUSA routinely began in a small timeframe which was most convenient for the largest number of real life Americans possible, so Feherlofia knew to be online then and pounce when the eUSA positioned for a region swap. Kudos to him for knowing how to disrupt EDEN’s plans and to use game mechanics to the fullest advantage.

Moreover, the closing minutes in the Battle of Liaoning showed eHungary and Phoenix what the eUSA was capable of in their last-minute mass attacks. Were I the eHungarian president after that battle, I would have seen the 1 million damage points by EDEN at Liaoning and reasoned that the wall needed to be twice as high next time-- that is what Phoenix did. By pushing the wall to a level normally considered excessively secure, Phoenix demonstrated a strong understanding of EDEN’s capabilities and intent, and was able to keep the region secure on both fronts with some additional last minute tanking. Phoenix won at Hello Kitty because it made adjustments; now the eUSA and EDEN would do well to learn from this example and modify their own battle plans to ensure more favorable results and regain tactical surprise. There is a saying that “only a fool does the same and expects different results,” and I hope that will not personify the eUSA and EDEN in the days ahead.

eUSA and EDEN
During the 24-hour period that Hello Kitty was being contested, eRomania did become whole again and eGreece did manage to turn the tables on eTurkey, and EDEN now has initiative on nearly every front of the European theater. EDEN also made eHungary spend a pretty penny to keep Hello Kitty, but did spend thousands themselves.

Except for eRomania’s existence, however, the war against eFrance or eGermany is hardly comparable with Heilongjiang to justify the argument that attacking Hello Kitty was to give an advantage elsewhere. In the long-term vision of this war, if Heilongjiang fell but eHungary was for some reason able to keep more of eRomania under its boot, their occupation would not have lasted long without their economic and military lifeline. If Hello Kitty was indeed a diversionary blocking campaign, I fear the eUSA and EDEN squandered an incredible opportunity to permanently cripple Phoenix for short-term limited gratification.



I might sound harsh to EDEN supporters, but I know how to call a spade a spade and believe that sugar coating a loss would do EDEN no good. The famous cliche that “losers never win, and winners don’t make excuses” applies here for EDEN; the alliance has proven its ability to win, so one loss does not need to be explained away-- it needs to be seen as an opportunity for improvements. There are lessons to be learned from the recent battle, and the side who best understands them will see their future campaigns prosper. Similar to real life warfare, tactics in eRepublik change and can be tailored to their opponent or the objective at hand. Failing to learn from what went wrong in the Battle for Heilongjiang would doom EDEN and the eUSA to more defeats at the hands of a Phoenix adversary who has shown the ability and willingness to adapt to their enemies.

Future Outlook
Even though I have waited a couple of days, the Battle of Heilongjiang’s impact will still be felt for several more. Events downrange that cannot be anticipated may show that EDEN’s loss of initiative in Asia was worth the gains in Europe, and was worth sacrificing thousands of gold on a lost battle. However, if eRussia successfully joins their Phoenix ally in China and puts EDEN on the run (or outright removes EDEN from Asia), then Phoenix can claim Day 773-774 as the day they rose up and repelled two EDEN-backed attacks on their most prized possession.

Whatever the future holds will be the final judge of whether the outcomes of Day 774’s Battle of Heilongjiang favor EDEN or Phoenix. Things are not looking in EDEN’s favor in the immediate present, but fortunes change without warning in war, and any unforeseen twists in the upcoming days could make the status of the war much less disputable.

God Bless America,

Lt. Scheisskopf