Join the new world

Before reading, know that this article is 10 pages in word and more than 3200 words long.



Statistically speaking, you weren’t around during the first round of “Spring Cleaning” back in April-May. Even if you were around, there’s probably not much you remember. There were just a lot of negative-slope graphs for the population of countries on ereptools.pl and that spoof article in the UK poking fun at the USA-Ireland wargames.

But the phenomenon of “spring cleaning” (the deletion of permabanned accounts and the removal of dead citizens from the statistics) means so much more. It means the deflation of the population of countries that have experienced baby booms, and the ones that have expanded are hit hard as well. There are the usual countries that experience the largest drops, like the USA, Indonesia, Hungary, Romania, but no one seems to be immune.

This time around there is a new country that is suffering the effects of a dead population. That country is France.
It was called one of the most historic days in eRepublik, the day that would once again change history, the day that signaled the decline of Hungary and Indonesia. It was the French baby boom.

In a single day, the population of France rose to 14,000 and additional bursts of population combined with the invasion of Spain would cause its population to glance the 28,000 mark, by far breaking the record set by the USA several months ago when its population crossed 22,000.

Even the EI called France the “Superpower of the future.”
But it appears to have all been for naught.

I do not know exactly what happened, no one does. It is impossible to pick up on the collective consciousness of 10,000 people you have never laid eyes on. But it safe to assume that at least some of the people who migrated from jeuxvideo.com got bored and left eRepublik.

But why so quickly? There has never been such a rapid drop in a country’s population before.
The USA didn’t fall this quickly. Nor did Romania. Even Croatia cannot match the numbers of lost French citizens.

Let us examine the conditions of the major baby booms of 2009: Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Poland, Russia, and France.


Hungary, the Famous Boom
Romania and Hungary have a longstanding rivalry in eRepublik that originates in the mutual hate and dislike between these two nations IRL. In September of 2008, about a year ago, the then-rising Romania invaded the vulnerable Hungary. This triggered eRepublik WWI, which was the first direct conflict between the newly formed Peace and Atlantis blocs. To put it bluntly (which I always prefer, there’s no point in softening the truth), Romania steamrolled Hungary. Romania was one region from destroying their greatest enemy when the Beta war module began malfunctioning, and the admins removed the flawed system until the pending release of V1.

As soon as the war module was closed, Romania and Hungary began intensive negotiations. The finest diplomats of Romania and Hungary would face each other across the table for months to come. They quickly reached an impasse, and despite the hard work of their diplomats they were unable to circumvent their figurative roadblock.

On the 24th of November, Day 370 of the New World, one of eHistory’s greatest leaders was born. (I was born exactly 20 days later) Quicksilver is known as one of the best writers in eRepublik, the former president of Hungary, a steadfast voice against cheating and inefficiency, but possibly more importantly as the woman responsible for the Hungarian Baby Boom.

Quicksilver was tired of Hungary being pushed around by everyone else, so she contacted index.hu, a popular Hungarian online newspaper that leans “a little to the tabloid-side.” An [url] http://index.hu/tech/net/2009/02/09/segitseg_az_eromanok_elfoglaltak_emagyarorszagot_/]article[/url] was published on index, and a massive rush of people to Hungary followed.

The most notable trait of the Hungarian baby boom was their subsequent dominance over the world’s media. The top 5 international articles were almost always all Hungarian for a few weeks during and after the baby boom. After this period other countries caught up in growth and their articles also began to reach international status.

Hungary bided their time, constructing their organizational systems and educating their population while getting the necessary war in by blocking Romania in their conflict against Indonesia. Romania held on to their Hungarian regions tightly, but at last even Central Hungary was torn from their ironclad hands. The day Hungary was whole again marked a new era for eRepublik. From that day forward, Hungary became the country to watch, not Romania. Over the following months, Hungary would maintain their population while building one of the largest empires eRepublik has ever seen.

Croatia, the Silent Boom
You know what they say:
The Pakis hate the Swedes, the Romanians hate the Hungarians, the Croats hate the Serbs, and everyone hates Ajay.

Croatia was added to eRepublik in December, and it got off to a decent start, probably the best start for a new country. For a couple months they enjoyed a world where they didn’t force themselves to re-enact every conflict in the Balkans. . . but that was because they were the only Balkans country ingame.
Serbia was added in February. This didn’t fly with Croatia.

At some point they decided that the very reason for their eXistence was to crush Serbia to pieces smaller than Monaco. Remember how Romania brought their RL hate of Hungary into erep? Croatia did the same thing with Serbia.

I don’t quite know exactly what happened with Croatia, whether they got erep posted on a blog or online newspaper, or if erep just got discovered and popularized in Croatia. All that matters is that Croatia grew. A lot.

They organized themselves, and were able to handle the population increase. Their influence in Atlantis and the world grew, albeit in a less dramatic manner than Hungary. A friend of mine once said “If I could put together the best possible alliance, I would want Spain for the tanks, Romania for the economy, and Croatia for the troops.”

Croatia in fact did manage to take over much of Serbia, leaving them with only two regions at one point. This war was quite unpopular with. . .well, everyone, especially the Serbians. Driven to desperation, Serbia made a rapid push to join Peace. Suddenly all eyes were on Croatia and Serbia as the Indonesian and Hungarian war machines turned their focus to Serbia and began liberating regions.

Croatia fought fiercely, but even when coupled with the Atlantis mobile units they were no match for all of Peace. The last occupied Serbian region was Vojvodina, which is unique in that it borders Romania, Hungary, and Croatia in addition to Serbia. Many battles were fought over this region, and Croatia held on to it for a time. But eventually Hungary brought the wall down, and the first incarnation of Croatia would later follow.

For a time, Croatia was content to participate in Atlantis conflicts, and fight in their open war with Hungary. But then Serbia had a baby boom (I’ll go into more detail on that later), and Croatia knew that they would suffer from Serbia’s revenge.

The first attacks against Croatia were physical, Serbia would attack one region and Hungary would block. Croatia usually did fine in these fights with the help of their Atlantis allies. The real attack would come in the form of a coordinated and precise Peace-sponsored TO that originated in Serbia.

During the TO, the Serbians wore Smurfs as their avatars, leading to the Croatians calling them Smurfs.
First, Peace secured a party in Croatia. (I won’t be bothered to spell Croatian or Serbian names. Seriously, buy a vowel.) Despite a major ATO effort by Atlantis, the Serbians won a large majority in congress. In one of the most effective uses of the TO tactic, the new congress raised the minimum wage to 20 HRK and then raised taxes on most items. They followed up by printing lots of HRK, and donating all of it to the Serbian National Bank. This gave them near complete control of the currency.

To avoid the taxes and minimum wage imposed by the congress, a list of GMs willing to pay salaries by donation was set up and widely publicized. Despite the efforts of many hardworking citizens, the economy of Croatia completely crashed. Croatian players began leaving en masse, both to other countries and from the game, and the population of Croatia dipped below 4000 for the first time in months. This marked the end of the first Croatia.

The second part of the TO was an attempt on the presidency, which ultimately failed. Croatia regained control of their own government, and many players who had left for other countries returned. The population of Croatia resumed its regular steady increase, and Croatia is once again a major player on the world stage.

Serbia, the Boom with a Vengeance
From reading the above section, you may have realized that the Croatians were/are massive assholes to the Serbians ingame for no real reason. For the most part, Serbia does the same to Croatia, but they have a reason.

Croatia got a several month head-start on Serbia, allowing them to build up their population and army. eRepublik did not take off right away like it did in Croatia. Serbia was unable to build up a significant player base, which served as more encouragement for Croatia to invade them.
Almost the instant Serbia’s 60-day new country protection expired, they were invaded by Croatia. Serbia was reduced to a mere two regions.

(I hate to be repetitive, but there’s some stuff about Serbia that I must say again)
With Atlantis at war with them and nowhere else to turn, Serbia joined Peace. With the help of Hungary and Indonesia, the occupied Serbian regions were slowly liberated. The liberation of Serbia would later serve as a huge propaganda piece for Peace.

Serbia began attacking Croatia, and they were met with defeat the majority of the time. Serbia’s population was still small at this point, and as a result most of the damage in these attacks was done by Hungary and Indonesia through their active MPPs.

An article about erep and Serbia were posted online, and the population of Serbia began to increase. Along with Peace, they planned and executed a TO in Croatia.
The population of Serbia began to skyrocket after the TO of Croatia. Over time, Serbia has become more powerful. They are frequent participants in Peace operations, and contribute significant amounts of damage. They also attack Croatia on occasion.

Poland, the Little Boom that Could
I’m sorry that I couldn’t make a Pole joke out of this article.
Baby booms are nothing to laugh about, they change the course of history.

But of all the major baby booms, the Polish one has had the least direct impact on eHistory, but has had a quite large indirect impact through MPPs.

Poland has a rather unique history. It is one of the few countries to have been fully occupied by two different nations, in this case Germany and Sweden. But that is not what makes Poland unique. What makes Poland unique isn’t what it has done; it’s what it hasn’t done.

Poland achieved independence in October 2008, and full independence in December 2008. From October to June, they did almost nothing, posting relatively small amounts of damage compared to the other Atlantis nations.

Then, suddenly, Poland just had a baby boom. Their population started growing, and growing, and growing.
At this time they were also fighting to assist Sweden in their war against Germany. This war is largely credited with causing Atlantis to be disbanded, despite the fact that most of the former Atlantis nations continue to work together, although more informally than when they were bound by the Atlantis Charter.

Poland has managed to maintain a high population, despite being low-profile compared to other countries of similar size. (Spain, Brazil, Greece, etc.) They continue to assist Eden operations, and had a large presence at many important battles including Asturias, California III, and several battles at NW Croatia. Their damage varies from war to war, but they generally put up damage approximately equivalent to Spain, although they rival Romania in some cases.

(Carbon, the creator of ereptools.net, the tool I use to track just about everything in eRepublik, is Polish)

Russia, the Unexpected Boom
Russia could claim that they are the most abused country in eRepublik and few would contest them.
For months, there were few Russian players. Norway took advantage of this and seized the valuable Russian regions.

For several months, Russia was entirely occupied by Norway. The few Russian players managed to achieve the liberation of several Russian regions in November.
In January, Russia was on the verge of striking a deal with Norway. The dying Norway would liberate the remaining Russian regions, and in exchange Russia would join Atlantis. Looking to expand their conquests beyond Moldova, Ukraine, and Hungary, Romania decided they would have none of it and invaded Russia.

After Russia secured several MPPs, Romania turned to a TO in order to subjugate the resource-rich country. Upon winning the president’s seat, Romania retreated away all the Russian regions. Russia joined Poland as one of the few nations to be fully occupied by two different countries.

Romania constructed a Q5 DS and Hospital in the now-famous WSR in anticipation of their war with Indonesia. Despite the requests of the Russian players, Romania held onto the Russian regions.
After the First Battle of WSR, Indonesia conquered the region, arguably the most valuable on erep. Indonesia did not liberate the region, instead developing it economically and keeping it for strategic reasons.

Romania reconquered the region after WSRIII, and it was extensively traded between Romania and Norway. On day 541, Indonesia reconquered WSR. They keep WSR today, without the slightest prospect of returning it to Russia.

Hungary gained control of several Russian regions during the war, including Urals and West Caucus. These regions have high iron and oil, respectively. Russia paid 6000 gold for Urals, their original region.

In late June, the population of Russia exploded. For the majority of eRepublik’s history, Russia was nothing more than a mass of high resource regions that could be traded and discarded at will, or defended if you happened to own WSR at the time.

They built up their army and economy. In July, with the help of the MPPs triggered in May, Russia invaded the USA. They did not agree to the peace treaty, helping the war to drag on. At one point, the only American region left was Florida. However, just as Romania stopped while knocking on the doors of Karnataka, Russia was unable to conquer Florida (mostly due to them not having a border, a situation similar to Romania as well)

Russia has become a major player on the world stage, although they still live in the shadow of Hungary and Indonesia. They are currently participating in the war in the United States, and they are being met with moderate success.

France, the Baby Bust-

(Toast + babies(French) – Spain)/invasion ^ peace gc = EPIC FAIL

France began when the nations of Atlantis were clamoring for war after the lull following the shut-down of the war module toward the end of beta. They wanted war, and they were going to get it. In the traditional American style, they chose to invade France. Because they’re France. And we want to sign the Treaty of eVersailles and be able to call our sparkling wine champagne.

So anyway, Atlantis invaded France, and Peace leapt to the defense. At first, Atlantis made significant headway into the French regions, but then the war turned around. Peace managed to push Atlantis out of France, and secure the regions. The USA and Canada never closed the wars, a decision that would ultimately come back to bite them.

Then France sat around and did nothing for 7 months.

During WWIII, France had an article about eRepublik posted on jeuxvideo.com, the #1 gaming site in France. Their population then skyrocketed.

Encouraged by the baby boom, France invaded Spain. At first they were met with mild success, but then the Spanish realized that they needed to get rid of all the MPPs. France fell into the trap, and fully conquered Spain.

France was then flooded with Spaniards, and for quite a while the media was dominated by Spanish articles and newspapers.

Spain began the process of liberation, and they eventually left France. But it was too late for France now. Their population began declining, and they lost control of all the foreign regions they had conquered.
France’s population, and power, began declining rapidly. They no longer play a major role on the world stage.

So, why. . .?

Of all the mentioned baby booms here, Hungary and Russia have been the most successful. Croatia, Serbia, and Poland have all brought prestige and power to their countries. And finally, France totally flopped.

What made Hungary and Russia so successful, what caused Croatia, Serbia, and Poland to grow the way they did, and what caused France’s baby boom to go bust?

All the successful baby booms were in countries that participated in war around the time of the boom. However, France also participated in war around the time of the boom. The difference here is that France lost their war. Epicly. Fighting in eRepublik is fun, but only if you are on the winning side. Hungary had success in their war against Romania. Russia had success in their war against the USA. Croatia had success in their war against Serbia. Serbia had success in their war against Croatia. Poland had success in their war against Germany, even though the regions would later be liberated. But France, unlike the other nations, was totally crushed in their war. They lost all their foreign regions, and their citizens had nothing else to do. Bored, many of them quit.

Now what distinguishes extremely successful baby booms from regular, good baby booms?
The difference is pride. Russia has been pushed around by other nations for almost all of its history. Hungary had been invaded and occupied by Romania, their RL enemy. Serbia is a slight exception in this category, as their conflict with Croatia would certainly instill the kind of nationalism in potential new citizens that Hungary and Russia benefited from. However, Serbia still has the potential to become a superpower, especially with their growth in recent days.

But it still doesn’t quite add up. What caused France to fail?
It was, in fact, France’s early success in the war against Spain that caused them to ultimately fail.
The language barrier is notoriously difficult to breach. After they conquered Spain, the Spaniards made France their new home. Because the French hadn’t quite gotten the concept of article voting yet, the Spanish were able to vote their own articles into the top 5. It was like taking the 15,000 new French citizens and placing them in Spain, with a different flag in the corner. Without the media in a language they could, the French quickly grew bored, and left.

And so went what could have been the greatest empire on eRepublik.

A word to the wise: If you’re planning a baby boom for your country, make sure you do it right. Emphasize how your country has been pushed around in the past by others, and how it’s time for that to end. And most importantly, remember to position yourself in a reasonable war. Make sure you can win it, and make sure you can absorb the population of the conquered country.

(~-pyroelectricity-~)

Always look on the bright side of life.
Energizer bunny arrested, charged with battery.