The Art of eWar: War Chests
Day 754, 12:51
•
Published in Canada 
•
by
•
by William Duncan
-~-~-The Art of eWar-~-~-
Caption: Canadian Gold coin with the highest purity of any at a guaranteed 99.999%.
-~-~-~-~-{ See Part I: War Kits, and Part III: Super Fortresses of this Series on eRepublik Warfare }-~-~-~-~-
War Chests.
"They have an abundance of gold and silver,
and these make war,
like other things,
go smoothly."
- Hermocrates
What's a War Chest?
The Treasury is the politically correct term for a nation's War Chest. It has but one usefulness; one purpose, to finance the utter destruction of the State's enemies. It is not a savings' account, and if used as such, the State is abusing its tax power, and committing gross negligence, because while the country is stockpiling gold for the sake of it, and with no plan for it, its enemies are doing the same, with one important exception: they're also developing a strategy to destroy and despoil your country. So, with that in mind, I therefore propose the following rule of eRepublik Warfare:
One country saves in order not to be conquered; another, to conquer, and the latter -in conducting its conquest- depletes the treasury of the former.
eHistorical Context
So it is that during WWIII an enemy alliance, although expending unimaginable sums of wealth, could easily justify it. Though indeed they grew poorer in overall gold reserves, so did their opponents; while they were expending gold and gaining victories and territories for it, we were expending ours and suffering defeats and losses.
"The sinews of war are infinite money."
- Cicero
The War Chest, if not not being used to win wars, is useless.
Soon enough it will have to be used to defend the country from wars, since the nation's enemies are not being kept on the defensive by routine raids or attacks. Presidents, therefore, have two choices:
1. Use the nation's surpluses to win battles and wars, thus forcing the country's enemies on to the defensive, and to deplete their treasuries for their defense; or,
2. Horde gold; when the nation's enemies come raining down, use the people's treasury to preserve what the country already has.
In the second case, that of defense, the treasury will rapidly be depleted, and nothing will be shown for it, except at the very best keeping what was already had. Even if a defense is successful, the country will find itself too poor to finance a counter-offensive. So, while the invaders are beaten and bankrupted and exposed to invasion; nonetheless, they are safe and secure, as the opposing nation is also impoverished, and beyond that, they must also rebuild their infrastructure and replenish their reserves before they can launch any serious attack. By the time the defending nation has replenished and rebuilt, so has the invading one.
Now using surpluses for war is separate from using revenues to finance government, such as earmarking revenues for funding and improving the army, stockpiling goods in preparation of war, domestic programs or earmarking a portion for regulating the market, and safeguarding it from economic attacks. These are standard operations of government and, because they are fundamental, they override the importance of surpluses in their priority. I shall speak more about these things, and how they relate to eWar, on a later date; still, they are all reasonable and prudent for government to do. Any surpluses above and beyond those most basic things I have mentioned should be used for nothing except winning crucial wars and battles, whether they be direct wars or indirect through the campaigns of allied nations against common enemies or threats.
An Aside: How to spot an eTyrant
eTyrants rule for themselves and their own benefit; they do not perceive their power as being exercised on behalf of or for their people or country; therefore, they will treat the state as their personal property, and conduct the affairs of government in such a way as it rewards them, either politically or economically. They may even convince themselves that such conduct is itself for the good of the country. So, if a President hordes gold for no other reason than for the sake of hoarding, then in truth he is doing his nation a great disservice, and is a tyrant or well on his way to becoming one, for reasons I have outlined above and will elaborate upon later.
In truth neither the nation nor its people in any way benefit from having obscene amounts of wealth in the Treasury, except if such wealth is actively being used in the strengthening and defense of the nation, which benefits everyone; for example, expanding the army or bolstering infrastructure, stockpiles or other defenses. Idle, stockpiled wealth will at best delay a country's destruction during an invasion. A President who refuses to spend the Treasury on winning battles and wars when the opportunity presents, whether for the nation directly or through its allies indirectly, and refuses to reduce taxes but rather loots the monetary market, is in truth a tyrant, as there is no point, logic, motive or rational reasoning that the people's wealth (and it is the people's) should be hoarded by their government. So, if a President is hoarding and not winning wars and battles, then he is hoarding for his own benefit, and for his own sake. Now an ignorant President may assume the hoarding of wealth and gold is customary if his country has long been subjected to it; however, this President in truth only piles up gold for future tyrants and thieves to abuse or steal, either the ones to be elected or the ones who will invade.
The Personal War Chest
As I have said above, that it is prudent for nations to earmark their surpluses for the purpose of winning wars and battles, so it is with the country's soldiery and citizenry. Like nations, the basic and prudent things to do must first be covered before beginning to build a personal War Chest, such as:
1. Ensuring your War Kit is completed;
2. Food has been purchased, and
3. Weapons for daily training have been bought and used.
At the end of the day there is always some small amount of left over change, and this should be converted to gold, and stored for emergency, ideally in your Kit organization (out of sight; out of mind). It may only amount to 1 or 2% of total income; nonetheless, when total war comes, what seemed to be a relatively small amount of gold suddenly becomes an abundant amount, as war always brings with it scarcity; scarcity, demand, and with demand, an increased speculative value in gold.
So...
I'm ready for war!
Are you??
-~-~-~-~-{ See Part I: War Kits, and Part III: Super Fortresses of this Series on eRepublik Warfare }-~-~-~-~-
Take care,
WD
The 13th | e† | FFFF!
Caption: Canadian Gold coin with the highest purity of any at a guaranteed 99.999%.
-~-~-~-~-{ See Part I: War Kits, and Part III: Super Fortresses of this Series on eRepublik Warfare }-~-~-~-~-
War Chests.
"They have an abundance of gold and silver,
and these make war,
like other things,
go smoothly."
- Hermocrates
What's a War Chest?
The Treasury is the politically correct term for a nation's War Chest. It has but one usefulness; one purpose, to finance the utter destruction of the State's enemies. It is not a savings' account, and if used as such, the State is abusing its tax power, and committing gross negligence, because while the country is stockpiling gold for the sake of it, and with no plan for it, its enemies are doing the same, with one important exception: they're also developing a strategy to destroy and despoil your country. So, with that in mind, I therefore propose the following rule of eRepublik Warfare:
One country saves in order not to be conquered; another, to conquer, and the latter -in conducting its conquest- depletes the treasury of the former.
eHistorical Context
So it is that during WWIII an enemy alliance, although expending unimaginable sums of wealth, could easily justify it. Though indeed they grew poorer in overall gold reserves, so did their opponents; while they were expending gold and gaining victories and territories for it, we were expending ours and suffering defeats and losses.
"The sinews of war are infinite money."
- Cicero
The War Chest, if not not being used to win wars, is useless.
Soon enough it will have to be used to defend the country from wars, since the nation's enemies are not being kept on the defensive by routine raids or attacks. Presidents, therefore, have two choices:
1. Use the nation's surpluses to win battles and wars, thus forcing the country's enemies on to the defensive, and to deplete their treasuries for their defense; or,
2. Horde gold; when the nation's enemies come raining down, use the people's treasury to preserve what the country already has.
In the second case, that of defense, the treasury will rapidly be depleted, and nothing will be shown for it, except at the very best keeping what was already had. Even if a defense is successful, the country will find itself too poor to finance a counter-offensive. So, while the invaders are beaten and bankrupted and exposed to invasion; nonetheless, they are safe and secure, as the opposing nation is also impoverished, and beyond that, they must also rebuild their infrastructure and replenish their reserves before they can launch any serious attack. By the time the defending nation has replenished and rebuilt, so has the invading one.
Now using surpluses for war is separate from using revenues to finance government, such as earmarking revenues for funding and improving the army, stockpiling goods in preparation of war, domestic programs or earmarking a portion for regulating the market, and safeguarding it from economic attacks. These are standard operations of government and, because they are fundamental, they override the importance of surpluses in their priority. I shall speak more about these things, and how they relate to eWar, on a later date; still, they are all reasonable and prudent for government to do. Any surpluses above and beyond those most basic things I have mentioned should be used for nothing except winning crucial wars and battles, whether they be direct wars or indirect through the campaigns of allied nations against common enemies or threats.
An Aside: How to spot an eTyrant
eTyrants rule for themselves and their own benefit; they do not perceive their power as being exercised on behalf of or for their people or country; therefore, they will treat the state as their personal property, and conduct the affairs of government in such a way as it rewards them, either politically or economically. They may even convince themselves that such conduct is itself for the good of the country. So, if a President hordes gold for no other reason than for the sake of hoarding, then in truth he is doing his nation a great disservice, and is a tyrant or well on his way to becoming one, for reasons I have outlined above and will elaborate upon later.
In truth neither the nation nor its people in any way benefit from having obscene amounts of wealth in the Treasury, except if such wealth is actively being used in the strengthening and defense of the nation, which benefits everyone; for example, expanding the army or bolstering infrastructure, stockpiles or other defenses. Idle, stockpiled wealth will at best delay a country's destruction during an invasion. A President who refuses to spend the Treasury on winning battles and wars when the opportunity presents, whether for the nation directly or through its allies indirectly, and refuses to reduce taxes but rather loots the monetary market, is in truth a tyrant, as there is no point, logic, motive or rational reasoning that the people's wealth (and it is the people's) should be hoarded by their government. So, if a President is hoarding and not winning wars and battles, then he is hoarding for his own benefit, and for his own sake. Now an ignorant President may assume the hoarding of wealth and gold is customary if his country has long been subjected to it; however, this President in truth only piles up gold for future tyrants and thieves to abuse or steal, either the ones to be elected or the ones who will invade.
The Personal War Chest
As I have said above, that it is prudent for nations to earmark their surpluses for the purpose of winning wars and battles, so it is with the country's soldiery and citizenry. Like nations, the basic and prudent things to do must first be covered before beginning to build a personal War Chest, such as:
1. Ensuring your War Kit is completed;
2. Food has been purchased, and
3. Weapons for daily training have been bought and used.
At the end of the day there is always some small amount of left over change, and this should be converted to gold, and stored for emergency, ideally in your Kit organization (out of sight; out of mind). It may only amount to 1 or 2% of total income; nonetheless, when total war comes, what seemed to be a relatively small amount of gold suddenly becomes an abundant amount, as war always brings with it scarcity; scarcity, demand, and with demand, an increased speculative value in gold.
So...
I'm ready for war!
Are you??
-~-~-~-~-{ See Part I: War Kits, and Part III: Super Fortresses of this Series on eRepublik Warfare }-~-~-~-~-
Take care,
WD
The 13th | e† | FFFF!
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Comments
voted.
voted
-~-~-~-{ READY YOURS KITS; KNOW YOUR $#!+ }-~-~-~-
http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/the-art-of-ewar-1082992/1/20" target="_blank">http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/the-[..]/1/20
Cool series, WD. Strongly voted.
Well done Duncan!
😮 it has the approval of the plug!
voted
😉
interesting perspective
Not bad, keep it up Duncan.
so....who are we invading?
http://www.erepublik.com/en/newspaper/poetry-of-the-world-206226/1" target="_blank">http://www.erepublik.com/en/newspaper/po[..]26/1
haha Will you'v been spammed
Voted Hard, this is a great series and when I first began reading I was thinking its great for the noobs but I know all this stuff. I continued reading incase you had a point I had forgotten or whatever and remembered that as a senior member of Canada I have a responsibility to get the nublets on the same page, thx for the reminder WD. I always thought you did better work not in a public position. I will be pushing to have CC's instate this strategy.
"At the end of the day there is always some small amount of left over change"
I don't have any left over money if I buy weapons for training. In fact, I lose money if I buy weapons. Should I just not buy weapons for training wars, then?
@ chenhsi - I recommend then earmarking 1 or 2% of income for savings; of course, purchasing food is a necessity. Assuming your buy food and a weapon, there should be some residual CAD left over with which you could convert to gold.
As I said though, the priority is your war kit, food and weapons for training. As your citizen develops, you will find it easier to set aside a little money every day for emergencies.
I hope this answers your question 🙂
Voted good stuff
http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/donation-for-q1-weapon-company-1090544/1/20" target="_blank">http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/dona[..]/1/20