The Need For Terrain! An Explanation for Improving eRepublik

Day 1,676, 17:43 • Published in Canada Canada • by Shoi12

Yes, I've whined about this before, in this article here. The reason I'm focusing on this idea in particular is because it is the most important improvement this game could make. THE most important. And now that I have a larger audience I feel I'm in position to at least catch a bit of attention (hopefully). So, first off, what do I mean by terrain?

Terrain, for you uniformed hillbillies in rural Kansas, basically means the feel of the land. In gameplay terms, it generally gives a damage bonus to the defender, depending on how poor the land is. If it's a plains province, little bonus is given, while if you're in the Alps, expect a difficult fight to win. Now, why do we need this terrain thing?

Terrain would prevent countries from simply eating up everyone else simply because they're stronger. Now, I know what you're thinking. "Isn't the stronger team supposed to win?" Would it really be fun to let a country like Serbia curbstomp everyone? With terrain, a weaker country has a fighting chance to protect itself. In addition, countries would have a greater need for tactical fighting, balancing possible footholds with good terrain but difficult to capture, or easy provinces that can be quickly taken back. This would help both weak and strong countries. Weak countries get a chance to hold off a regional power, while strong countries can hold onto their spoils better. It would give a slight boost to countries being NE'd, giving them a chance to hold off an assault. This would also help keep reasonable country borders. No more UK colonies in Indonesia, this would also give defensive bonuses for overseas battles. This way, countries are more inclined to focus on their own continents rather than outrageously going across waters to fight meaningless battles. So, how specifically would this work?

There would terrains, one for each province. There would be these terrains: plains, forests, jungles, hills, and mountains, with possibly more that I can't think of off the top of my head. These terrains would give these bonuses:

Plains 0% to defense
Forests 5% to defense
Jungles 20% to defense
Hills 15% to defense
Mountains 25% to defense

Overseas attack (Oceans) 30% to defense
Over water attack (Straits, nearby islands) 15% to defense

Let's look at it from a perspective of a scenario. Serbia attacks Albania. Normally, this is an easy, even laughable battle. Serbia would wipe Albania in mere hours. But with terrain, Albania's mountains give it a 25% boost to damage. This gives their inferior troops a chance to defend. They succeed, and gain the initiative, but they cannot break through Serbian lines. Serbia regains initiative, and with mercs from Poland and FYROM, overwhelm Albania, and capture Tirana, starting a push into deeper territories.

In this case, Albania isn't overpowered by some godly power, but is able to hold its own against a superior opponent, but Serbia is also capable enough to stop Albania from attacking. Serbia is forced to acquire help to push Albania back. This shows that while it gives weak nations a fighting chance, it is still possible to win crucial battles, and Serbia is awarded for this by now having a foothold.

Terrain would keep battles and eRepublik in general from being too one-sided, and everyone knows a one-sided game leads to ragequits, something the staff doesn't want. It also gives more diplomatic options. Often countries need alliances to survive, but with terrain countries can legitimately survive on their own, but would still need friends to become a power. Options are always good, and terrain would bring that.

And for the hell of it, let's take it a step further. Terrain is something I really feel is needed, but let's toss weather into the mix, just for thought. What could weather bring to this game? Weather, unlike terrain, is ever-changing, and thus gives a sense of timing and planned attacks at certain times, seizing a rare opportunity. Many historical battles, most recently D-Day, took advantage of good/bad weather. D-Day, as some of you may know, was delayed because weather was poor for the planned day. Terrain may be predictable, but weather would give a sense of taking advantage. There would be the conditions of: clear, light rain, heavy rain and thunderstorms. These most prominent conditions would also give defensive bonuses. Why defensive bonuses? Because a well-prepared and entrenched defense would not be affected by weather much, while a storming army rushing an outpost would be bogged down by the weather.

Clear 0% bonus to defense
L Rain 5% bonus to defense
H Rain 15% bonus to defense
Storms 25% bonus to defense

So how would this work in conjunction with terrain? This would take the regular value normally given in an attack, then tack on the terrain bonus, then the weather bonus, multiplying the two bonuses. If a foolish general attacked Alpine Switzerland during a thunderstorm, he'd be penalized with a 1.25*1.25 = 1.5625. That's a 56.25% bonus for the defense! All of Terra combined would have trouble overcoming that detriment to their assault. This would give yet another variable to the game, forcing commanders to think wisely and take advantage of the chances they are given. Of course, the auto-assualt timer would have to be increased from 6 (?) hours to perhaps 12 hours, as weather would change maybe every 8 hours or so. Weather would even change during a battle, so attackers would have to weigh the possibility that a clear weather now may not be so clear later, forcing them to quickly get as many points while the conditions are favorable. Overall, the combined forces of weather and terrain would make war and strategy much more interesting, taking tactics to the next level. I hope I've made my point clear, and that someone will at least ponder the thought. Yes, I know it would be much work, but for the good of the game, it's needed to keep players interested. So it's for your paycheck, developers. Do you want more money out of us? Make the game more interesting, and we'll give you all the money you could ever want (like $18.36).

Until next time, take care!