Serbia's Land Bridge, The 47 Days

Day 817, 19:55 • Published in USA USA • by Lieutenant Scheisskopf

If eRepublik time were to mirror real life (RL), a conventional measuring stick would be that a month is equal to four years, as a term for a President covers the same time period. Using this conversion, the culmination of eSerbia’s trek across Asia took the equivalent of almost 7 years to materialize-- at the very least, the 47 days from start to finish covered many gamers’ eLifetimes and may have outlasted the attention spans of a few others 🙂. This article chronicles the eSerbian land bridge's major developments, demonstrating innovative strategy and disciplined patience for the right time to strike; it is a continuation article on the state of eSerbia’s land bridge which I wrote last month.

The Beginning: Days 770-781

The bridge which started all the controversy and
got us to where we are today in Asia

Day 770 was eventful for being the day in which the European theater of war exploded in all-out conflict, as battles emerged everywhere on that fateful day. Lost in the shuffle at the time was a surprise series of ePakistani region swaps. What the ePakistani president at the time advertised as a “lulzy invasion” meant to get in on the European theater was instead part of a calculated region swapping campaign which involved ePakistan moving from its Balochistan region to declaring war against eIran and conquering Sistan Baluchistan, South Khorasan, Semnan, and Northwestern Iran; a second war with eTurkey and swaps of Eastern Anatolia, the Black Coast of Turkey, and Marmara; and a third war with eBulgaria, for Plodiv, Ruse, and Vidin. The result was that ePakistan swapped all the way to eSerbia and in doing so, gave the Phoenix power a clear path to East Asia in the span of four hours. No one knew for sure whether Liaoning or Karnataka was the end objective, but Phoenix clearly had something in mind for this move. The cost of lost infrastructure, battles opening, and wars being declared to create the bridge, all seemed irrelevant to Phoenix at that time.

eSerbia had begun to take advantage of the bridge just 3 days
later, but at this time, no one knew where the end result would be

As eSerbia moved across the bridge on Day 773, the reason for ePakistan’s move became clearer, although the end result was still unknown. From ePakistan, the eSerbians could have looked to move north on newly liberated Liaoning, or could have challenged the newly eAmerican region of Karnataka after fighting a few eIndian regions. By Day 776, eSerbia reached the naturally ePakistani Balochistan region, which acted as a proverbial fork in the road, as going north would suggest a move on Liaoning, while going south would imply that Karnataka was the end objective. However, the longer that eSerbia did nothing, the more some people doubted that eSerbia had no other objectives than to start training wars with the ePakistanis. Regardless, the Sol alliance to which ePakistan was formerly a member expelled ePakistan for this act of catering towards a Phoenix power. Most people assumed a high iron region to be Phoenix's aim, but no one knew for sure yet.

By Day 779, eSerbia made it into Asia, and had begun to return regions
to eIran while being severed from the bridge in Europe by eRomania

Days 776-779 included eSerbia’s gradual relinquishment of several links in the bridge-- whether voluntarily or involuntarily. eIran received control of several strategic regions formerly given up for the land bridge through resistance wars (RW), as the regions used included several of eIran’s important resource regions and major population hubs. During this time, however, eRomania was having success in their Balkan offensive, having conquered much of eBulgaria and dividing eSerbia from their bridge. Partially in fear of any possible eRomanian advance along the land bridge, Phoenix elites started a RW in Eastern Anatolia on Day 781 to sever any pathway for the EDEN power to follow in eSerbia’s footsteps. In the mean time, eSerbia fought hard to preserve control of its positions in ePakistan, implying that they had a greater purpose for them to come.

Idleness and Sindh, Days 781-800

Two weeks after starting East, it was still unclear what eSerbia
had in mind, but they were clearly not in a hurry

After several quiet days in which eSerbia watched its bridge reduced to three regions, eSerbia swapped for Sindh, Pakistan and quickly built a Q5 hospital there, on Day 787. In doing so, eSerbia assured control of the region and made it harder to conquer or otherwise target in an RW-- although it was apparent that Sindh’s medium grain was not the intention. Several EDEN RWs had targeted eSerbia’s Pakistani positions, and in putting the hospital there while moving citizens to Sindh, eSerbia assured that at least one region would remain in their hands in South Asia.

eSerbia took Sindh, but the land bridge quickly faded into obscurity and
became an afterthought to many strategists while the war picked up elsewhere

Pakistan Wiped Out, Days 797-805

eIndia and eSerbia, combined, held all of ePakistan’s natural territories
and occupied the home of Dio Brando on Day 801

As part of a presidential promise, eIndian President Ashwamedh proposed and received a declaration of war on ePakistan on Day 797. The eIndian President successfully obtained a consistent source of military combat for his eIndian citizens, kept their interest in the game by attacking an RL adversary, and hoped to secure a baby boom for their country-- much like ePoland had done for attacking eGermany. By Day 800, after successful campaigns in the Northwest Frontier of Pakistan (NWFP) and Balochistan, eIndia had eliminated ePakistan from the map.

Because eIran held an active war with eIndia from earlier in the war, eIran took the opportunity to attack eIndia when eIndia conquered Balochistan, forcing eIndia to stage a RW in NWFP on Day 801-802 to remove any land border with the Phoenix power. ePakistan, consequently, returned to the map, but its loss of territory meant that all active wars were removed. As the country gained a couple of regions, it again faded into the background as EDEN moved on the eUK and sought to deal the finishing blow to eFrance.

Phoenix Opens the Path to Liaoning for Serbia, Days 812-817

eSerbia was able to swap with ePakistan once they reemerged
on the map, but needed some help crossing their way into China

On Day 812, while everyone attacked everywhere, eRussia attacked eChina at iron-rich Liaoning and Xinjiang. Some citizens thought Xinjiang was just a diversionary attack, but Phoenix’s dual victories there on Day 813 brought the land bridge to Liaoning to its full conclusion, and allowed Phoenix to finish the task it began over 40 days earlier. Also on Day 812 was an ePakistani declaration of war on eIran, which opened wars between ePakistan with eSerbia and eRussia as allies of eIran-- affording Phoenix the same region swapping possibilities ePakistan had prior to its conquest two weeks earlier. Although eRussia’s actions on Day 812 suggested that eSerbia would be moving on Liaoning, Day 817 showed that to be the reality as the swap for the NWFP region put eSerbia right outside of China and on the path to its high iron region.

Day 817 turned out to be the fateful day, as a series of EDEN-backed RWs in Xinjiang had prevented Phoenix from swapping the strategic region to eSerbia any earlier. Because eHungary held an active war with eSerbia and eRussia, eHungary swapped with eRussia for the strategic Xinjiang, as well as the final region on the bridge, the coveted Liaoning. From there, eSerbia used its active war with eHungary to work towards taking the same regions. Although eSerbia’s move on Inner Mongolia destroyed the dual Q5s eHungary installed there, eSerbia was finally on the doorstep of Liaoning.

The iron is so close, eSerbia can almost taste it

There is no guarantee that eSerbia will inherit the iron-rich Lion King, the same region which the eUSA removed from eIranian control at the start of the Asian campaign. A final blocking attack, eChina attacked Liaoning shortly before eSerbia did the same thing; therefore, Phoenix must defeat eChina’s attack before allowing eSerbia to enter the region, something it would be able to do around 1200 on Day 818. Were eChina to win the region, one of eSerbia's Phoenix allies would likely attack the region again, as both eRussia and eHungary hold active wars against the Sol state.

Implications and Looking Back
The scary thing for EDEN and the greatest boon for Phoenix is that an already powerful and motivated country will be inheriting one of the New World's 11 pivotal high iron regions, which will fuel its war machine and greatly benefit its economy. eSerbians are citizens who I admire for their gaming insight and high level of involvement-- even if they are adversaries-- but I am with the rest of EDEN when I express concern at the thought of an iron-rich eSerbia fighting against the armies of EDEN for months to come. At the same time, the eUSA's campaign against Phoenix's Three Pillar regions has received a significant blow, as one of those pillars formerly won by EDEN will become irrevocably controlled by Phoenix unless a major EDEN strike on the region is successful in the future. Phoenix invested a great deal of gold in this operation, between infrastructure lost, wars declared, and battles opened, but the boon to eSerbia's economy could offset the investment and help it to bear fruit very quickly. If eSerbia does not quickly fortify Liaoning-- assuming they do obtain it on Day 818-- we could see EDEN attempt to RW it back to eChina before then.

Overall, this series of events shows the benefits of careful planning, near-flawless execution, and patience in waiting for favorable circumstances. Twice did eSerbia go 10 days without any major developments, but never did they take their eye off a larger goal. While EDEN controlled the battle in Europe, eSerbia did not become anxious or impatient, and instead waited for Day 812’s sequence of events to tie EDEN up elsewhere and allow eRussia to complete the bridge. All in all, despite the ongoing Battle of London and RWs raging everywhere, the completion of eSerbia’s quest for iron could be the event which carries the greatest implications long after the dust settles in London.

God Bless America,


Lt. Scheisskopf

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