Join the new world

Yes, it is intended to be slightly ominous. However, like the Druid in Diablo 2 that I stole the quote from ( he says it upon leaving the starting area at the beginning of the game ), I definitely should not be taken too seriously.

I only hope that unlike said Druid I don't become a complete joke as this game progresses.

This is a little sooner than intended, but in hindsight, I've already made a choice that may or may not have a sizeable impact on my future. Also, I have the day off tomorrow, so this seemed as good a reason as any to stay up.

This is only day 5 of my life in eAustralia. I know this because my Hard Worker medal says that I'm currently sitting on 5 / 30. The awkward part is that it's only been 4 days since I made the account, thanks to making it approx 40 min before the day rolled over ( 7:00 pm where / when i am now ), so day 1 / 2 was pretty interesting.

In that time I have gained some levels, gained some gold, got a job, joined the military, started a newspaper... etc.

What this article is about, is the single most important decision that a new player has to make.

What do you spend your gold on ?

It's been explained to me ( briefly, but the concept is pretty straight forward, so theres not much to think about here ) that strength is everything. By this I mean your individual strength.

By now you will have noticed that gaining levels gains you 1 free gold per level ( yay, free gold! ). So simple logic says more levels = more gold. How do you gain said levels?

Simple. War. Pick a side, fight for it. The more opponents you defeat, the more experience you receive. This means strength is very important. Its simple.

More strenght = More Damage = Less energy to defeat opponents = Can defeat more opponents with the same amount of energy = faster levelling due to more efficient use of energy.

This means that in the long run, to gain your 'free gold', it is most effective to raise your strength as high as you can as fast as you can, and fight as much as you can.

Upon hitting level 20 you will have 20 gold. If you've taken the time to randomly click between the screens to see what you can actually do in Erepublic, you will notice that your Free Training Ground costs 20 gold to upgrade.

DO THAT!

I know I said that I generally don't follow advice just to see what happens but, seriously though, this is so logically sound, that if anyone goes against this advice and I hear about it, it is very likely that it will drive me to get a refill.

So this is all well and good. A rough outline of some of the mechanics of a game I dont yet understand all that well, and some starting advice that should be part of some compulsory tutorial.

The next question is: What do I do with the rest of my gold? I mean, I could just wait untill level 70 to upgrade again but.. really? That just seems silly.

This is the point I discovered the Currency Market. And thanks to the Joey Developement Scheme ( JDS link at bottom ) I had some spare gold from tasks I had completed earlier.

This is the point I should point out that I come from an RTS gaming background. This means that stockpiling resources is a big no-no, and it's all about developing and sustaining an incremental advantage over your opponents.

This is also the point that I was told that occasionally Erepublic has sales, on both Gold and eAUD item, with discounts sometimes as high as 50%.

So, naturally, I fought my instincts and lost.

I sold all my Gold, and bought an Iron Mine.

I no longer have a Resource bank ( other than some food ), and now produce an additional 35 Weapons Raw Materials per day. Incremental advantage at it's finest.

Lets do some math.

I have a job that pays $28 ( yeah, I got pretty lucky ) and 6 companies ( 1x Q1 Food Factory, 3x Grain Farm, 2x Iron Mine ). This means that each day, I gain $28, and pay $1.56 tax. However I can sell the 70 Weapons Raw Materials for an extra $4.20 ( sell at $0.06 ). This means that the extra mine is bringing in $2.10 per day from an initial investment of $1500. So my daily income is $30.64.

My food Supplies are enough to recharge up to 988 energy. The factory also creates 'free' energy per day.

I am 28 xp from lvl 22.

I have 2 gold and 153 eAUD.

In 2 days time, I should be able to buy another 1x GOld. Tomorrow I will gain another 1x Gold from levelling.

I will then have 4x GOld, with the possibility of another 1 or 2 for completing the JDS Tasks ( link at bottom ).

Should they have the ( approx 50% ) sale sometime next week, I will have the option to buy either the 10x Gold Weapons Factory for the Quest rewards and ability to make weapons, or the 10x Gold Aluminium Mine for aditional incremental advantage.

HOWEVER!

If I had held off on buying the Iron Mine for another couple of days, I would DEFINITELY been able to afford the Aluminium mine tomorrow, even without the sale. this means i would have lost $6.30 for the 3 days I do not have the Iron mine, but I would then be able to sell the 160x Weapons Raw Materials for $9.60. In 2 days i would have gained back the losses from the Iron Mine, and have greater base income.

Thats ~56% more income if I had simply taken the time to do some math and check the markets properly.

What is really terrifying for me is that if the sale happens in about 4 or 5 weeks, between levels and being careful not to travel too much i would easily have ~20 gold. This means that I would be able to comfortably purchase a Rubber Plantation, or in a pinch have the 25x Gold to upgrade my Training centre.

The lesson is...

In a game where Strength is King, and Gold is akin to the stone that holds Excalibur... be patient. Stockpiling gold is a Must. Either to upgrade the Training Ground Consecutively or to purchase the 35x Gold Raw Materials companies to increse eAUD income, or to kickstart your manufacturing empire.

Don't fall for the cheaper companies. They are all traps.

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Joey Developement Scheme
http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/jds-updated-tasks-for-joeys-level-34-and-under-2376628/1/20

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untill next time // wall'o text

lup

p.s. this is substantially longer than intended

p.p.s. still not apologising