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RIP Canada CP Sperry

Welcome, welcome! Unlike some of my other articles, in which I rant about how tactics and plans don't make sense (US, give France back its lands jeez), this time I'll rant about how the game itself could be much better. Keep in mind, I am still new to this game, and probably will make some mistakes, but hey, if even one thing from here makes it to the game itself, I'll be ecstatic! So, without further ado...

Idea #1: Improved, fixed map

Some names aren't labeled on their corresponding province, some map glitches, inaccuracies (look at the US and you'll see what I mean), and other problems can be found. Lithuania Minor and Sudovia, for example, don't look connected, but actually are. These inconsistencies make it difficult to fully enjoy the game map.

In addition, some of the province names seem bland and unoriginal. The four Dutch provinces are simply called West, North, East, and South Netherlands! There are definitely simple ways to fix this, by just changing the names to more intriguing ones.

One major problem is that when clicking on a country's name on a province, it will show a 404 error. I'd assume it's because of the overhaul to v2, but it amazes me that this is still not fixed. One other problem is that when a province is having an RW involving a country without lands (Bosnia, for instance), it will mention that it is under attack, but will not give a link to the battle, forcing players to go to the 'Wars' tab to find the specific battle. It's not game-breaking, but having to this every time I want to see how the Bosnians are doing is frustrating.

The last minor detail I'd like to mention is the possibility of separating actual battles and RWs. Perhaps indicating on the map screen 'Attacked by: Bolivian Revolts' rather than 'Attacked by: Bolivia' would be more helpful. After all, in times when countries are attacking through both traditional means and revolts (Bulgaria against Turkey), it would be much easier to see which is which, as they have different consequences.

Idea #2: Grand Alliances

Terra, EDEN, and ONE. What do these have in common? They are all major alliances linking many countries together. Sadly, the larger the alliance, the more difficult it is to keep track of. It is very possible that two members within the same alliance believe they are allied, but are actually not, and thus cannot help each other fight battles. What could be more helpful than a Grand Alliance?

With a Grand Alliance, instead of having to ally with every member of the alliance, one would simply have to, after congressional approval, apply for membership. They would have to be accepted by members of the alliance (either 66% or unanimous), and then they would be allied with everyone in that alliance. This would help to keep alliances more united and better coordinated. Of course, countries could make smaller alliances just as usual.

This could also be implemented on the map screen. Members of the largest Grand Alliances could be listed in a filter, so that members of, say, EDEN would be highlighted, while other countries turned gray. This would help both new players and veterans quickly know whose side they are fighting for.

Idea #3: Headlines

Maybe it's just me, but often I find it confusing to know what's happened in the time that I'm offline. How should I know that China declares war on Spain? I often never find out until the battle has started, sometimes even days after the war first starts. That's why a ticker bar, or a headline, is needed.

With headlines, right on the main menu it would state 'X attacks Y in province Z', or 'X declares war on Y', or 'X and Y are at peace'. It would make important news much easier to reach. Otherwise, I'd have to keep refreshing the page every 10 minutes to see if Italy has held onto Lombardy or not.

In an internet environment, it's foolish to expect a CP or MoD to PM everyone in the country saying 'Hey, we're under attack'. An automated system informing people of what is happening is necessary. It could be even better if it was customizable, perhaps filtering messages so that only news involving the citizen's country was displayed or that things from unimportant countries are blocked out. But at the very least, some way of spreading vital knowledge is needed.

Idea #4: More province individuality

I see many times that countries willingly give up lands. Part of the reason is that besides gaining a new border or a resource, or maybe a region bonus if you're lucky, there's no point to owning land. Why does Canada keep letting UK get back on its feet? It's because often there's no point to owning land. It's all the same.

Provinces need to have some sort of benefit at all times. Perhaps some sort of bonus besides a resource would help, such as a small gold bonus deposited into the country's treasury. This way, owning land has an actual purpose.

Another possibility, though more difficult to implement, would be terrain. The reason why generals stress over where to fight battles is because terrain matters. In fact, countries like Switzerland have survived this long because of their terrain; no one's gonna even try to climb 15,000 feet to attack the Swiss! However, in eRepublik, terrain is never even mentioned!

Now, how would this give provinces benefits? Countries would fight desperately to hold onto lands with good terrain, and thus a defensive bonus. It would give weak countries, such as Switzerland, a chance against major powers, while at the same time not making them overpowered, as again, terrain only helps defending. While it would take time to fully implement and balance, terrain would help make military campaigns become much more deep than simply 'Hey people go take X for the lulz'.

Idea #5: Overhaul of land ownership

The beauty of eRepublik is that over 4 years have passed, yet not one country has even come close to conquering the world. One major reason is that RWs can constantly come to take lands. While that's all good, it makes it difficult for countries to hold onto lands for even a short time.

As a player of Europa Universalis, I've accepted a system of province ownership that comes with the game. I found that the system would work well in an environment like eRepublik with some tweaking.

This idea would be that if a country held onto a province for a long enough time, say 2 months, it would, after spending considerable amounts of gold (to prevent spamming), be able to start producing revolts in the area. Similarly, if a country lost some land, its congress could decide to give up its ability to revolt in the area.

It sounds stupid at first, but take the province of Baja as an example. Baja was given by the Mexicans to the Americans as part of a peace treaty. Under this system, the Mexicans could give up their revolt power, and give it to the Americans. Of course, more than one country could produce revolts, making for interesting struggles for power.

To keep countries from quickly hoarding tons of land, countries would only be able to purchase these rights (using gold) once every month or so. There would also be more of a cost to purchase colonies, or overseas lands. After all, it's easier to imagine a Portuguese Andalucia than a Chinese Madrid. And finally, it would be impossible to buy these abilities for opposing capital provinces. This way, countries would always have at least one province that's rightfully theirs alone.

Additionally, there would be an ability to sell lands directly to other countries. Case and point: Italy. In order for China to attack Serbia, Italy had to declare war on China and let China conquer Sardinia. It causes so much headache and confusion. It's inconceivable that two countries would have to declare war on each other just to cede lands to one another. This way, countries won't be screwed over by the system, and countries won't be backstabbed by one another under the promise of trading land.

Of course, many of these ideas are flawed in its own way, but hey, I just want the game to be more entertaining and balanced, so that countries are both limited in conquering ability, yet able to take small chunks of land without problem. Developers, if you're reading this, at least ponder it over a cup of coffee, will ya? Until next time, take care!

*EDIT* CELEBRATE!!!!! METS NO-HITTER!!!!!!11!!!!