[NSC] Getting better

Day 2,454, 09:38 • Published in USA USA • by The Mike


Here we are once again.

These NSC articles have always been a success and maybe their irregularity is a part of their charm. In the last article of the series I wrote about a typical pattern in eRepublik - you conquer a region, country or even a continent but you can never keep it. It ain't a matter of IF, but a matter of WHEN you are going to have to give that region(s) back. Today, I will come back to the basics of the game and analyze our current borders.

A lot of time passed since the last NSC piece you read. During these 135 days Chile managed to conquer Europe ... three times; Serbia wiped Poland; Bulgaria reached the previously thought for impossible 10/10; Asteria, despite their military superiority, managed to lose a big deal of the wars, despite Argentina wiping the UK, then Spain and then the UK again. The last of these was the heroic victory over Argentina, when they NEed Russia after landing in Georgia after a successful Air Strike.

The bottom line of this past paragraph is that wars come and go, possessions change and it is very easy to lose focus and forget what matters and what - not. When prioritizing a campaign over another one, it is vital to remember where exactly do your interests lie. The purpose of the National Security Council (NSC) is to ensure the territorial safety of the eUSA. We are blessed to have such a great geopolitical situation in the eWorld with 51 original regions and 0 top-tier countries for neighbors which makes our job way easier. First, we always look at the countries at our borders. They are where any invasion has to come from - either one of them would attack us, or would make way for a stronger nation to come to our borders. Also, they are where we can gain bonuses from.

So, with the current article we will look at our neighbors and see if they possess the bonuses we lack and how likely they are to possess a danger to our borders!

1. Russia
2. China
3. RoC
4. Japan
5. SK
6. Indonesia
7. Mexico
8. SA states
9. Cuba
10. Portugal & Spain
11. France
12. Ireland
13. Canada

As you can see, it is a long list. I'll try to keep it short & simple (KISS)!



Russia

Russia is our ally in the Pacifica alliance. We have had a great relation over the past few years, including a brotherhood pact - the Bear and Eagle Engagement, that has been upheld for almost two years now! In eRepublik, it is great to have Russia on our borders!
In terms of bonuses, they do have 4 of the 6 resources we don't, but they are all in their European regions. So, in order to get these we'd need to conquer all of Russia, and maybe make an USAR Federal Republic, like Germark (Germany & Denmark).



China

China is the biggest economic empire in the eWorld. eC hasn't participated in a real resource demanding war in years and the last time there was a contested campaign on Chinese soil was 4 years ago. Given that the game is "only" 6 years old, this is a lot of time to hoard taxes. They used to be the all-timer 10/10 holder, until the house industry was readded the other month. They only have three of the five house resources. Limestone and Granite is what they don't have and most certainly are currently looking for their possibilities to gain the two missing resources...
China possess all the regions we don't have, but rubber. However, just like us they have dozens of regions and it would be more than complicated to have to hold on ~10 Chinese regions and even more complicated to negotiate such a rental agreement.

RoC

RoC has been enjoying being under China's protection and used the situation to their advantage. They have had the upper hand in the wars against SK and Japan that saw the two countries permawiped over the past few years, with the exception when USA intervened in the war year and a half ago as part of us entering the CoT alliance.
Even though they've conquered two countries, RoC aren't very rich on bonuses. Taiwan only has 80/60/60, incl. Rubber and Sand. Attacking them, however, wouldn't gain us those bonuses and I'd expect the war to prove too costly; and it is doubtful that they'd agree to rent us two of the regions linking all their colonies to their capital..


Japan

Japan has been wiped for a very long time. Their occupation started many years ago and although they managed to enjoy some months of freedom last year, their happiness was short lived. Currently we are occupying a couple of Japanese regions in order to gain Deer and Fish. We also have a second Fish region, in France.
We could also gain Deer from Japan, but for this we must deny Taiwan's claim on the Chubu region. Which wouldn't be very friendly from our side.


SK

There are real life issues involved in the RoC-SK military conflict. Given SK's inability to organize a bigger Baby Boom in the last few years, they remain incapable of resisting against the joint forces of eChina and Taiwan who occupy the both Koreas.
In fact, we can get all our bonuses we lack, with the exception of Saltpeter, from the Eastern Coast of North and South Korea. However, in order to get a bridge to our capital, we'd need to link it via Japan which again would deny Taiwan some bonuses.


Indonesia

Indonesia is maybe the strongest country on our borders. Lately, we have been in good relations with them, but the history also remembers some great wars with them. They've always been military a focused country and, despite not having many bonuses (60/60/40) and a relatively low tax income, they do sit on a big pile of cash. Even in this moment they have three Training Wars open to keep their population happy 😃
As already stated, Indonesia's bonus situation isn't very good. All the bonuses they have can be found only once in their regions with Oil being the exception. And we already have Oil in Alaska, Illinois and Texas.




Mexico

Mexico is a great ally of ours. They proved to be priceless a year ago, when we had to liberate ourselves from a major invasion that had even denied us congress. As a result of our cooperation we signed our most recent brotherhood pact - the Tequila agreement.

Currently, we are renting Saltpeter from them. They have another Saltpeter region in Northwest of Mexico, so it is a fair deal! They also have two Fish regions and a Rubber region (which is currently under Colombian occupation). In 40 days we will be allowed to conquer all of Cuba and in this way we could gain a border with Mexico's two south regions which are rich on Rubber and Fish. It is a whole another story though, if Mexico would agree to rent us the rubber region as they don't have a second one; and how content Cuba would be to stay wiped for our sake (even if we liberate them for congress).


SA states

Via our colony in Cuba, we also border Colombia and Venezuela. Colombia is a member of the LETO alliance and has been in a ping-pong war with Mexico for quite some time now. Colombia could be of a great interest to us. They have a rubber region, an iron region (we could give up on Oriente and use Havana as a bridge, and let Cuba have two of their three regions) and a sand region. Combining these with Mexico's Fish and Saltpeter, we would be only missing on Deer.
Venezuela on the other hand is an ally, a member in the Aurora alliance. They do have Fish, Rubber and Sand but we would need to keep holding on Cuba for Iron, Mexico for Saltpeter and negotiate with them a compensation for denying them a number of their bonuses and regions.


Cuba

Cuba was added to the map three months ago. As a result of that their capital cannot be attacked until mid-September. Currently we have an agreement with them and are holding on Oriente for its Iron resource and on Las Villas for a link to our capital. As Cuba is still new to the eWorld their leadership is yet to settle down on the international stage.


Portugal and Spain

The Azores give a lot of neighbors to Portugal, incl. the eUS. Portugal is one of the strongest LETO nations and therefore an alliance leader. From the resources we would be interested in, they possess on Fish and Sand, but hold on no military bonuses. It is amazing how a country with no military bonuses can perform so well in the eWorld!
Spain, if they would agree to a rental, is also a very nice source for resources we lack. Andalucia is the only other option for Saltpeter, other than Baja (Mexico). Furthermore, they have two or more regions rich on Fish, Deer and Iron, and even have a Sand region.




France

Giving France the only two rubber regions in Europe basically killed France as a country. All great powers have strived to get one of them, and in order to do so, Poland and Serbia had to keep (almost) all of France occupied in order to keep the Rubber regions linked to their respective capitals. This practically left France with no viable options for allies - any great power in close proximity to them would prefer to conquer them, rather than help them out.
France also has Fish, Iron and Sand. This makes for four of the six missing bonuses we have, but we would have tough time with Poland giving up on the Lorraine region which is securing the link of the rubber region to their cores.


Ireland

Ireland is one of the cool countries in the eWorld. They do have their ups and downs, but I'm especially a fan of their ups 😛 They have six regions, three of which we have interest in - Dublin (Iron), Wexford (Sand) and Cork (link with our cores).


Canada

Canada is probably the most controversial country for the American people. Some love it. Some hate it. Some love it and hate it in the same time. For good or for bad, Canada is the best resource host for us - they have Deer, Iron and Fish and combine very nicely with France's Rubber and Sand and Mexico's Saltpeter.


So, let's do a quick recap. There are three types of bonuses and we miss six of the 15 resources:

1. Food
(3/5) We have Grain, Fruits and Cattle in our cores.
4. We gain Fish from Japan and France. We can also gain Fish from: Russia, Mexico, Portugal, Spain, France
5. We gain Deer from Japan. We can also gain Deer from: Russia, Japan, NK


2. Weapon
(2/5) We have Aluminium and Oil in our cores.
3. We gain Iron from Cuba. We can also gain Iron from: Russia, NK, Spain, Ireland
4. We gain Saltpeter from Mexico. We can also gain Saltpeter from: Spain
5. We gain Rubber from France. We can also gain Rubber from: RoC, Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela.


3. House
(4/5) We have Clay, Wood, Limestone and Granite in our cores.
5. We gain Sand from nowhere as of now. We can gain Sand from: Russia (FER), NK, Colombia, Venezuela, Portugal, Spain, France, Ireland.


All in all, we have some options to gain 100/100/100 boni. It would be, however, extremely challenging to accommodate these in three or less colonies. Nevertheless, we are now practically the country with the best economo-geographic situation in the eWorld and even our current 100/100/80 state is by no means a disappointment.

So, I hope you have enjoyed this short analysis. I'll be happy to get some feedback in the comments, especially about any other topics you'd like me to present in a future article 😛 Be sure about it, in cooperation with all US Military Units, your NSC team is looking after the security of our homeland!



Yours faithfully,
The Mike, NSC Chairman
john nwp, NSC Co-Chairman
Kortanul, deputy of the NSC Chairman
TheNorm, deputy of the NSC Chairman
Garmr, deputy of the NSC Chairman
TTi09, deputy of the NSC Chairman

P.S. If you are new to eUSA, make sure to read Gnilraps' 10-step guide in
HOW TO SUCCEED IN USA: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
You can find more guides on the DoE's website and in DoE's newspaper.



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