The Economist ~ Empires and pirates
Day 3,840, 09:50
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Published in United Kingdom 
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by
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by Spite313
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Dear friends,
I am writing today to expand a little on my last article, in particular on the outcomes of the world order I described. In my last article I explained that the current world order had created a system of dispersed confederations rather than alliances, and that the result of this was a more individualistic country vs country warfare system (as opposed to alliance vs alliance).
Today I’d like to briefly look at what this has done to countries themselves, and the way they fight. Firstly, as the title suggests, I’d like to categorise countries into two main groups: empires and pirate nations. There is a third type: smaller countries which are on the map but have no significant direct impact on the world map and who occupies who, but we won’t look into those in much detail for obvious reasons.
For the purpose of this article, empires are large, powerful nations which occupy multiple other nations, usually for bonuses or for strategic reach. They tend to have maximum (or close to maximum) weapon bonus as a minimum, with many having all bonuses at maximum. They have large transient foreign populations, and are company bases for many citizens. They have large incomes and functional political systems, with a government that regularly changes hands between various factions. They have multiple military units (MUs), which are sometimes at odds with one another.
Pirate nations are a relatively new creation. They have no homeland, few if any regions, and no income to speak of. Their government tends to be an extension of their military, which consists of a tightly knit group of MUs which for the most part tend to agree on policy. They are very focused on war and not so much on politics or economy. Pirate nations tend to be led by the same group of people, who circulate the leadership amongst each other.
The creation of both of these entities has been possible because of Asterian domination of the game. Asterian and pro-Asterian nations are frequently Empires (or the third type above). Their enemies, due to long term wipes, are some of the most noticeable piratical nations. But what does this mean for gameplay?
Firstly, empires have some huge and almost insurmountable advantages when it comes to direct warfare. They have a huge income, and productivity, which directly benefits their citizens. Their large territories and frequent training wars ensure a regular supply of gold for their citizens. Their success also lends itself to player retention, and they are amongst the larger communities. Finally they often have regions around the world, which allows them to project power quickly and effectively. As they are mostly allied (the USA was an exception until recently) they can come to each others aid. Most Empires are or were based in Eastern Europe originally, which means a direct attack on one of them can result in being attacked by multiple empires at once.
On the other hand, pirate nations have advantages too. They have no homeland, and nothing to lose, so they cannot effectively be counter-attacked. This means they can focus entirely on attack without any concern for holding territory. Their lack of significant territory means that the core group of the country tends to be very well organised in battle, as their community exists mostly in ‘the meta’- outside of the game itself. Their lack of income can be compensated to some extent by pack/gold buyers, who can fund their activities. They are also - by their nature - unpredictable. They remind me of a (rather overused) quote by Sun Tzu:
“If I determine the enemy's disposition of forces while I have no perceptible form, I can concentrate my forces while the enemy is fragmented. The pinnacle of military deployment approaches the formless: if it is formless, then even the deepest spy cannot discern it nor the wise make plans against it.”
Empire are large and powerful, but just like in the real world they are also more vulnerable because of that. To use a metaphor, a man with a big house and a nice car has more to lose than someone with a little shack. It is easier to damage someone with something than someone with nothing. Big empires like their bonuses, they like their wide reaching territories. They spend a lot of money protecting them. But that makes them vulnerable, because anything you need is by its nature a vulnerability.
Pirate nations on the other hand have all the tools they need to exploit that. In the real world it would be called guerilla warfare- targeting supply lines and infrastructure, and working behind enemy lines. However in eRepublik guerrilla warfare is some terrible module nobody cares about except Clopoyaur, so I’ll call it what it is, a pirate raid. An in and out attack designed to cause disruption and confusion. This is something that Empires have to defend against- not once, but again and again every day. And they have to win every time, whereas pirates only have to win once.
Does this mean empires are all doomed? No, of course not. The damage they had to make them empires still exists, and they will win in a direct battle. That means they will always be able to re-establish their territories, given time and patience. But as far back as the battles to secure high iron in China, resources have been a vulnerability for countries as well as an advantage: both in terms of losing the resources themselves, and as a powerful distraction. No empire can ignore an attack on their jugular vein, which means an attack on resource regions or the ‘neck’ regions connecting them to the motherland can draw damage away from battles elsewhere.
Empires have countered this by smashing pirates off the map at every possible opportunity. The second they reappear, everything is done to get them off the map. Whilst pirates don’t need resources, they do need a base- even if it is just a few regions. Without that they can’t launch their raids, or fight their wars. Therefore we have two competing goals- the empires to eradicate the pirates from the map, and the pirates to get a base and raid.
In a sense this makes both predictable, and therefore manageable. The advantage then goes to whichever group has the smarter, more innovative leaders. Who can organise best the attacks that will maintain their advantage whilst negating that of the enemy. My honest assessment - and this will not be entirely popular to say the least - is that neither group has really been all that successful at using their advantage or pressing their opponent’s disadvantage in the past few months.
Perhaps that will change. Some pirate countries have had some awful luck (sorry Greece) and some have done better than expected (Croatia). On the other hand the empires (Romania, Serbia, Bulgaria etc.) have been almost universally successful at maintaining their bonuses. Neither side have achieved total victory, since there are piratical nations on the map, and the empires still have their bonuses. I predict a stepping up of hostilities from both sides this next month and hopefully there will be fun to be had.
Iain
Thank you’s
Thank you to everyone who endorsed my last article, it is really appreciated.
rainy sunday (fastest finger award)
N0s3
Jedimindtrick
Sub Zero.
hans erik
Duh sa Sjekirom
Khotko
Sagittarius A Star
Nkrsystem
Nimnul
Georgi Vasilev
H.C.Giovanni1911
CoronaMortis
Melvinovicz
Nevmjbmti
Perry Rhodan
Mittekemuis
Vladb
Zdlemmy
Zequix
Mr B....
Y o s h i n o
Madvieri
Icurlybear
Hediondu
RF Williams
William Thomas Riker
Dmitry Odinets
Warmdox
Lalo292
Bulletz4Breakfast
MelkorPT
Endritt Zekka
Slaven93
Kravenn
Supernana
Tytlal
Joseph14
N4zGuL
OMR.Ding
Tzu Liang
MaZzA
J3wbaca
N.oName
Niemand
MightAndMagic
Talon Karrde
Garmr
Bogi
Sexy Macan
CaioMario
Cyco.ImmOrtal
Aimeisan
FRITZHILL
Passos Coelho
Weeping Angel
Kyaaa
Tehnicar23
Raab Donat
TrogeRRRx
Vettige Swa
Feynmann
Altinkss
Subaru15
Love of Hua
El Speverino
Mlster X
Wingfield
The Mike
Dio Maximus
bHaste
Monster Grinder
Atena Stark
beyaz turk
ArchieSmith
KOLAK79
Nuno Reis
Certacito
Norris Bush
Ps. Life goals: get rainy sunday, N4zGuL, vladb and zdlemmy to all endorse the same article.
PPs. Yes I actually just wanted to make an article about pirates, so sue me.
Dear friends,
I am writing today to expand a little on my last article, in particular on the outcomes of the world order I described. In my last article I explained that the current world order had created a system of dispersed confederations rather than alliances, and that the result of this was a more individualistic country vs country warfare system (as opposed to alliance vs alliance).
Today I’d like to briefly look at what this has done to countries themselves, and the way they fight. Firstly, as the title suggests, I’d like to categorise countries into two main groups: empires and pirate nations. There is a third type: smaller countries which are on the map but have no significant direct impact on the world map and who occupies who, but we won’t look into those in much detail for obvious reasons.
For the purpose of this article, empires are large, powerful nations which occupy multiple other nations, usually for bonuses or for strategic reach. They tend to have maximum (or close to maximum) weapon bonus as a minimum, with many having all bonuses at maximum. They have large transient foreign populations, and are company bases for many citizens. They have large incomes and functional political systems, with a government that regularly changes hands between various factions. They have multiple military units (MUs), which are sometimes at odds with one another.
Pirate nations are a relatively new creation. They have no homeland, few if any regions, and no income to speak of. Their government tends to be an extension of their military, which consists of a tightly knit group of MUs which for the most part tend to agree on policy. They are very focused on war and not so much on politics or economy. Pirate nations tend to be led by the same group of people, who circulate the leadership amongst each other.
The creation of both of these entities has been possible because of Asterian domination of the game. Asterian and pro-Asterian nations are frequently Empires (or the third type above). Their enemies, due to long term wipes, are some of the most noticeable piratical nations. But what does this mean for gameplay?
Firstly, empires have some huge and almost insurmountable advantages when it comes to direct warfare. They have a huge income, and productivity, which directly benefits their citizens. Their large territories and frequent training wars ensure a regular supply of gold for their citizens. Their success also lends itself to player retention, and they are amongst the larger communities. Finally they often have regions around the world, which allows them to project power quickly and effectively. As they are mostly allied (the USA was an exception until recently) they can come to each others aid. Most Empires are or were based in Eastern Europe originally, which means a direct attack on one of them can result in being attacked by multiple empires at once.
On the other hand, pirate nations have advantages too. They have no homeland, and nothing to lose, so they cannot effectively be counter-attacked. This means they can focus entirely on attack without any concern for holding territory. Their lack of significant territory means that the core group of the country tends to be very well organised in battle, as their community exists mostly in ‘the meta’- outside of the game itself. Their lack of income can be compensated to some extent by pack/gold buyers, who can fund their activities. They are also - by their nature - unpredictable. They remind me of a (rather overused) quote by Sun Tzu:
“If I determine the enemy's disposition of forces while I have no perceptible form, I can concentrate my forces while the enemy is fragmented. The pinnacle of military deployment approaches the formless: if it is formless, then even the deepest spy cannot discern it nor the wise make plans against it.”
Empire are large and powerful, but just like in the real world they are also more vulnerable because of that. To use a metaphor, a man with a big house and a nice car has more to lose than someone with a little shack. It is easier to damage someone with something than someone with nothing. Big empires like their bonuses, they like their wide reaching territories. They spend a lot of money protecting them. But that makes them vulnerable, because anything you need is by its nature a vulnerability.
Pirate nations on the other hand have all the tools they need to exploit that. In the real world it would be called guerilla warfare- targeting supply lines and infrastructure, and working behind enemy lines. However in eRepublik guerrilla warfare is some terrible module nobody cares about except Clopoyaur, so I’ll call it what it is, a pirate raid. An in and out attack designed to cause disruption and confusion. This is something that Empires have to defend against- not once, but again and again every day. And they have to win every time, whereas pirates only have to win once.
Does this mean empires are all doomed? No, of course not. The damage they had to make them empires still exists, and they will win in a direct battle. That means they will always be able to re-establish their territories, given time and patience. But as far back as the battles to secure high iron in China, resources have been a vulnerability for countries as well as an advantage: both in terms of losing the resources themselves, and as a powerful distraction. No empire can ignore an attack on their jugular vein, which means an attack on resource regions or the ‘neck’ regions connecting them to the motherland can draw damage away from battles elsewhere.
Empires have countered this by smashing pirates off the map at every possible opportunity. The second they reappear, everything is done to get them off the map. Whilst pirates don’t need resources, they do need a base- even if it is just a few regions. Without that they can’t launch their raids, or fight their wars. Therefore we have two competing goals- the empires to eradicate the pirates from the map, and the pirates to get a base and raid.
In a sense this makes both predictable, and therefore manageable. The advantage then goes to whichever group has the smarter, more innovative leaders. Who can organise best the attacks that will maintain their advantage whilst negating that of the enemy. My honest assessment - and this will not be entirely popular to say the least - is that neither group has really been all that successful at using their advantage or pressing their opponent’s disadvantage in the past few months.
Perhaps that will change. Some pirate countries have had some awful luck (sorry Greece) and some have done better than expected (Croatia). On the other hand the empires (Romania, Serbia, Bulgaria etc.) have been almost universally successful at maintaining their bonuses. Neither side have achieved total victory, since there are piratical nations on the map, and the empires still have their bonuses. I predict a stepping up of hostilities from both sides this next month and hopefully there will be fun to be had.
Iain
Thank you’s
Thank you to everyone who endorsed my last article, it is really appreciated.
rainy sunday (fastest finger award)
N0s3
Jedimindtrick
Sub Zero.
hans erik
Duh sa Sjekirom
Khotko
Sagittarius A Star
Nkrsystem
Nimnul
Georgi Vasilev
H.C.Giovanni1911
CoronaMortis
Melvinovicz
Nevmjbmti
Perry Rhodan
Mittekemuis
Vladb
Zdlemmy
Zequix
Mr B....
Y o s h i n o
Madvieri
Icurlybear
Hediondu
RF Williams
William Thomas Riker
Dmitry Odinets
Warmdox
Lalo292
Bulletz4Breakfast
MelkorPT
Endritt Zekka
Slaven93
Kravenn
Supernana
Tytlal
Joseph14
N4zGuL
OMR.Ding
Tzu Liang
MaZzA
J3wbaca
N.oName
Niemand
MightAndMagic
Talon Karrde
Garmr
Bogi
Sexy Macan
CaioMario
Cyco.ImmOrtal
Aimeisan
FRITZHILL
Passos Coelho
Weeping Angel
Kyaaa
Tehnicar23
Raab Donat
TrogeRRRx
Vettige Swa
Feynmann
Altinkss
Subaru15
Love of Hua
El Speverino
Mlster X
Wingfield
The Mike
Dio Maximus
bHaste
Monster Grinder
Atena Stark
beyaz turk
ArchieSmith
KOLAK79
Nuno Reis
Certacito
Norris Bush
Ps. Life goals: get rainy sunday, N4zGuL, vladb and zdlemmy to all endorse the same article.
PPs. Yes I actually just wanted to make an article about pirates, so sue me.
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Comments
well done, voted
o7
I see Dubrovnik, I vote.
o7
If the two types you describe are where the "fun" is why are you in one of the third?
Because the two fun types are reserved for actual strong countries.
There is a fourth too- micronations. But fortunately we're not that weak.
I wasn't speaking about eUK, I was wondering why Spite313 wasn't in one of the top two types as by your definition there is no fun here.
Because it's my home and I've spent a decade working for it? Should be obvious
I think this highlights why the eUK could not follow the route Croatia took when we were allies on the anti Asteria side. That game style just did not suit us because there is nothing to really show for your efforts.
Well, "pirate countries" don't attack Asteria now this is why some of them are on map, this is the sad truth of the game.
This Article explains very well what was going on in this game for last couple of years. In my opinion Empires defeated Pirates and won similarly like Empires defeated them in real world in modern times and what we have now is a different eWorld entirely. Croatia is not an Empire and is not a Pirate nation either anymore.
Very interesting idea :the Pyrate Nations.I always learn a lot by reading your articles Thank you my friend and sorry by my poor globish 🙂
umber she-bear was here
\\\\ /
That's beautiful model, but it doesn't correspond with e-reality. Let's look, for example, on top-5 countries.
1. Two of five (Romania and Serbia) have capitals located in their core regions only - and both of them doesn't match with RL-capitals.
2. Every country of top-5 have at least few unrouted regions. For example, Lithuania has 80%(sic!) regions unconnected, they could easily fix it moving capital to America. I don't think this lack of connectivity is a result of good piracy; it's rather absence of interest.
3. Country like Croatia can easily use their historical regions as a playground for training war. Ergo, sentimental and (or) economical value of continuous ownership doesn't mean much for them.
its a matter of time before serbia and romania start using their own regions for tws
Well, that's approve my suggestion, I guess.
1 & 2 are Empires and have full/near full bonuses.
3 Croatia was a pirate nation.
Nothing you've said contradicts my article.
Who is Johnny Depp then?
Hmmmm rum.