The Economist ~ Notes on Imperium

Day 2,073, 11:09 • Published in China United Kingdom • by Spite313



Dear friends,


Let me tell you a story. A couple years ago when work as manager (WAM) was first taking off and people were making a lot of money, I hatched a plan. The idea was called the imperium project, and the purpose (much like Legion) was to make a military unit which was supplied by a group of leaders with companies. The idea was each unit involved would have 100-200 Q4 WRM companies, meaning a joint income for the unit of about 50-60 gold a day, which would pay for one of the best supplied units around, capable of building itself further at the same time it did significant damage.


Now this project was somewhat scuppered by changes in the value of WRM and people involved gradually losing interest. It survived to a certain extent through TUP’s 12th Division, but the point is, Imperium died. Still, it became common in the UK for those associated with the project to plaster IMPERIUM everywhere in article comments. Imagine my surprise then when players around the world seemed to gain a sudden interest in an old pet project of mine!


The Imperium alliance was based on absolutely nothing but air. It’s “members” weren’t even particularly close, and the whole thing was born out of two things: Croatia wanting to reclaim its place in the global alliance structures, and Spain wanting out of TWO. Frankly the rest of the countries were disinterested at best, and outright hostile to the idea in most cases. Poland listened because Poland has had a rough month and is fed up of other countries in TWO being a bit of a circus (ala Serbia), and Hungary perhaps because the leadership there disliked the Serbo-Romanian MPP and likes MKD a little bit too much. But there was no plan behind it, and it was doomed to fail before it was born.


Now let’s jump from the symptoms to the cause. It’s clear that TWO is broken internally, and problems have been rearing their head for months now. Spain is deeply divided and factionalised, and with Serbia falling into a similar state it’s created an unholy mess that’s going to take months to sort out. The likes of Siddy (who essentially did my job and dug ONE’s grave), though somewhat marginalised, still hold power in Spain through others. They’re always there chipping away at the proTWO people and throwing up alternatives, whatever they may be, in order to try and get Spain away from the Serbs.


Spain needs to make a decision here. There are two paths before them: the first involves them stepping away from TWO altogether and maintaining MPPs with whoever will have them. The second involves them showing a wholehearted commitment to the alliance. To every other country in TWO, this Imperium is the latest of many attempts by Spain to sit in two camps, and just gives the impression they’re only sitting in TWO for security until something better comes along. That’s unacceptable, and it’s unacceptable to have a country in the alliance which is unreliable in it’s motivations. Spain has been the backbone of TWO in the past, and could be again. But first the players there need to retake control of their country and show it has a backbone of its own: commit to your alliance.


I’ve already wrote about Serbia, so I’m not going to repeat myself at length. But there too problems persist. As I feared, many took the suicide of HanibalLA as an excuse to make the same old fights, rather than use it as a chance to be the bigger man and put the old scars behind them. TWO needs all its members to be united - at least in terms of foreign affairs - to stand a chance. Nothing is more poisonous than an alliance that interferes in the internal affairs of its members. But who can blame them, when the outcome of elections may decide who the country fights for that month.


The collapse of Imperium has shown us a path best left unwalked, and given us clear indicators about the problems TWO faces as an alliance. We shouldn’t squander that knowledge, we should use it. On the 5th of August we elect new Presidents, and their first act must be a firm declaration of intent: are you in or out. There can be no more indecision - an old saying is that those who walk down the middle of the road get run over. A TWO without dilettante members might be slimmer and less powerful on the damage sheets, but it’ll be stronger and more effective internally.


Iain