[4leAdmins] International Resource Trading

Day 2,234, 22:28 Published in Canada Canada by Shoi12

I'm not stupid enough to think that eRep is anything near RL, other than that both have incompetent leaders and pointless wars for the sake of glory. ...Actually, it's remarkably similar, in a sense.

But to the point. eRepublik is by all means, merely a war game. Not a strategy game, not a political simulation, barely a community, since everyone's a scumbag that betrays each other. It's a war game, and that's fine. But why do nations fight wars?

There are two reasons for war: resources and glory. Resource wars are pragmatic at their core; they have something we want, they won't give it, so let's kick their teeth in. There's always gonna be wars for the sake of getting resources, and rightfully so. Fighting to make a stronger nation and fighting against imperialism are always going to be two central forces as long as there are resources. Glory wars, on the other hand, aren't focused on resources, but rather for, well, glory. Be it for slightly practical purposes such as congress/congress denial or to protect an ally, enemies will always fight one another even if there isn't a resource to be fought over. Both to protect themselves and to harm fiendish foes, these wars will also exist.

Now, let's look at what change the determination aspect has caused. It essentially means that holding territory for a long duration is impossible. And rightfully so, because it lets smaller nations have a chance. But it also means that land rentals, a key part of peaceful internal improvement, are also extremely nerfed. There's no way for a nation to rent land without it escalating into a horrific mess after a few months, especially if a smaller nation is renting from a larger one. What once was a difficult but doable situation becomes an impossibility.

In some ways, the fact that land rentals are now impossible is a good thing. After all, even the strongest nations will need effort maintaining their empires. But this means that the strength of countries relies too much on their starting position. Some countries have no chance to get some resources without overextension.

There's also the issue of duplicate resources. Ultimately, there's no real point in having duplicate resources, now is there? I mean, having multiples gives no extra resource boost. However, there's a nice solution to this: selling resources on the market.

What do I mean by this? Instead of each region being a resource, it instead produces 1 of the resource. Instead of Alberta being a cattle region, where owning Alberta means that Canada has a cattle bonus, Alberta instead produces cattle, a cattle resource that means we get its bonus. This means that rich nations such as India and China will have multiples of various bonuses. Of course, this means nothing so far. Having multiples won't give extra production or anything along those lines. So how does it change anything? Now, nations are allowed to sell the resources to other nations for monthly cc or trade for other resources.

Think of the benefits this will give. Rather than force nations to conquer one another for bonuses, this provides a viable option for peaceful internal improvement. And instead of countries being limited to their immediate surroundings (barring the cross-continent moves ), it's possible to get resources from willing partners around the world. This means that while a strong nation can use its military to conquer enemies, a peaceful state with economical prowess can purchase its bonuses from friends. On the flip side, a weaker country can find suitable partners (and thus, friends) by negotiating with powerful countries too far away to conquer them but willing to protect their trading partner; the country can also get money to stay competitive in the world.

Whoa whoa this is overpowered, most of you are saiyan. A super powerful alliance like TWO will be able to conquer all the resources, then sell them to each other for low prices. Full 100/100s for even the weakest country, what an unspeakable atrocity! And indeed, so far, the system feels a bit broken. Another worry is that nations will get permawiped rather than only taking the resources that the giants need. After all, having one occupied territory is no less difficult than holding down an entire nation, and if the powerful countries can take the excess and sell it, it might be broken, and perpetuate the broken cycle. However, here comes the second part of the system: the embargo.

We already have embargoes. But in all truth, embargoes are mostly pointless. After all, plenty of trade markets, and losing one won't matter at all. But under this system, nations can block trade routes by embargoing a nation.

Let's look at an example. Spain wants oil, and asks the Brits for some help. The Brits agree to trade one of their oils to Spain. Currently, Spain and Britain have plenty of routes to get to each other. Just like irl, where nations trade through various routes, the shipping lanes are open. Alarmed by the deal, though, Canada, USA, Portugal, Ireland, France, Norway, Netherlands, Belgium, and Denmark all blockade Spain. Of course, with such a system, rival alliances will already blockade each other on the monthly, but the result is the same. Spain could previously go through many paths (South America, USA, Europe) to loop around and get its oil, but since they're blockaded on so many fronts, the deal can't be accessed. Infuriated, Spain decides to attack the easiest target: Portugal. In response, and hoping to cut the trade lanes, USA attacks Spain.

Of course, this is all hypothetical, but there are benefits to this system. Excess resources now have a place in the world, regions have actual strategic value, weak but rich nations have options in allies, and there will finally be an international market. The world is not a collection of regions. It's a world. An alliance can be more than just a system of war fronts, but a collaboration to get resources and support each other. Airstrikes can have actual strategic value other than just 'FU ESTONIA HUE'. Securing resources either to sell or hitting regions to block off a thriving trade route can be the new 'Saxony RW'.

Sure, there are some risks. There's a possibility that empires have more incentive to permawipe, and it's possible that countries will try to expand even more to sell resources. But now that there is determination, it'll be a tedious balance between ensuring bonuses for both you and your allies and making sure it's sustainable. And most importantly, this allows peacefully obtaining resources and cooperation a viable option once more, now that rentals are out of the picture for the most part. Who knows? We might even see price wars over oil 😉

Anyway, lemme know what you guys think. If there's anything I overlooked or if I should just jump out the window (I'm on a plane as I type this), feel free to give feedback! Merry Hanukkah everybody! ....I think that's right.

Meh, being on a plane is boring 😛

Can anybody help me find the flaw in my logic? XD

Until next time, take care!


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