[Talon] My Legacy and CP Insights

Day 1,844, 14:16 • Published in United Kingdom United Kingdom • by Talon Karrde


My Friends,

Today’s article is obviously not a CP update, seeing as I decided not to stand for re-election! Right here at the outset I’d like to thank each person that has been involved in government these last two months. Each of you has enriched the country and helped to give the incoming team the best possible foundation in every area. Your contributions have helped and enriched the nation in so many ways, and it was my pleasure to work with each of you.

I’d also like to thank those that did and still do their work behind the scenes; not seeking public recognition for the hard work that they do. Without players like you the UK would be nowhere near the position it is in now.

No, today is not an announcement, but rather an honest assessment of what I think my legacy as CP these two months is. You may disagree and that’s fine, but I hope that even my detractors will agree that I’ve always had the best intentions for the country at heart; that everything I have done has been to the furtherance of our goals together. Perhaps I am hoping for too much here but I hope it all the same!





Here are a few headline figures (Thanks to Daniefox for providing most of them. )

Our Division four fighting population has increased from 145 to 183 since I became president

Our Division four monthly damage has increased from 10B to 16.5B

Our total population of daily fighters has increased from 554 to 592

Our total daily influence went from less than 380M to over 500M on average

We joined the TWO alliance

We made a robust reserve of 2.4 million GBP

We had ‘A Call to Arms’ running every single day of my second term, giving free weapons to anyone that wanted them

We expanded the NHS to level 29 and gave free food to anyone that needed it

The Ministry of Education produced a comprehensive set of guides and our newer players have never had as many resources available to them

I secured three training wars for our citizens; one of which is about to be used by our new president

We didn’t lose a single region under my reign

I also ended a long-term decline in population , with the population growing very slightly (by 3) over the course of my two terms. The average since the statistics started was a 23% decline (about 280 people based on our current population) every 2 months. I caused the population to be 20% higher than it otherwise would have been.

There’s plenty more to be said, but without wanting to bore you with long lists of self-aggrandising stuff I think I’ll leave it there. If you do have any more suggestions feel free to leave them in the comments below! Likewise if you disagree with anything I’ve said.


There were setbacks as with any presidency, but I can leave office with my head held high and say I did a lot of good. With that in mind I’d like to apologise for the times I did lose my cool. A president has to work with people they don’t like or respect and I wasn’t as good at hiding that as I’d like; I was unprofessional at times. For that I am sorry, and while that doesn’t mean I’ll give you the time of day now, I should have done when I was president. (I’m sure anyone this applies to knows who they are.)


With that said, then, I want to wish BigAnt every success in his upcoming term. I’m sure it’s not a surprise to anyone that I didn’t vote for him, but I do count him as a friend and know he’s up to the task. While I may not be in cabinet nor have access to any of his cabinet stuff, he knows my virtual door is always open and I stand ready to assist in any capacity he may need in the month ahead.







For the second section of my article I want to give you a little inside view into what being president is like. I’ll give a realistic and hopefully insightful overview as to what it’s like to be at the helm, and talk you through a typical day at the office.


As an overview then, the first thing you need to know about being CP is this: It’s ruddy hard work! The country demands perfection, and whatever party you are from, roughly half of them will be against you no matter how good you do, and no matter how positive your intentions are. The simple reason for this is that everyone seeks; even craves, power. Maybe not in terms as black and white as that, some people don’t oppose for power’s sake but rather because they believe their methods are better. Either way, you will face more difficulty at home in politics than from any foreign country.

The second thing is that cabinet is key. As a CP you either have to be on 24 hours a day, or have enough trust in cabinet to delegate to them. I’ve known CPs in both camps; some that try and be online as much as they can and do as much as they can themselves, and others like me, who delegate as much as possible and trust the experts to do their thing in their field. A CP has to be a true all-rounder, proficient in every way with good management skills to boot; it’s a tough job from the off and only gets tougher as the month wears on. I personally enjoy being president, the pro’s far outweigh the con’s, but I know some people that have had a torrid time of it, struggled through the month, and quit the game at the end because it ruined it for them. It really isn’t something to be taken lightly. I often wonder what their cabinet was like, because mine was nothing but supportive.

The final key to success as a CP is foreign contacts- you have to know who can get things done in all the relevant countries. That’s often not only the government but the influential players behind the scenes; often ex-CPs that advise their governments and do a lot of work without a lot of credit. These players are often friends with their compatriots in other countries and comprise what is colloquially called an ‘oldfag network.’ Basically a collection of old friends that have been there, done that, gotten too many T-shirts to count and that can help each other out whenever needed. A CP doesn’t necessarily need to have access to this network personally, but they do need to have access to someone that does in their country. It’s not a requirement for a CP by any means, but is certainly a method that has proven highly effective for foreign affairs in the past.









A typical day at the office for a CP will go something like this:

7:30AM- respond to any PMs received in the night from work computer- normally between six and fifteen. Send PMs out to cabinet members with jobs for the day and make sure all are on task

12:00MIDDAY- check for more PMs and respond to anything that has cropped up since you were last on. Typically one national crisis, three political problems and several requests from countries to fight for them are received by this point

15:00PM- Same as midday roughly, a lot can happen in three hours!

17:00PM- get home from work and log onto IRC; respond to 3-10 different queries from various people demanding a piece of your time, deal with anything that has cropped up since last night, and make sure your VP knows what needs to happen tomorrow- they are your eyes, ears and voice while you are AFK; well worth keeping them in the know.

From that time until bed time it’s all about managing cabinet- making sure they’re on task, clear on what their mandate is, putting your policies into action. This is the most time consuming part of the day as each will need to know exactly what you want if you expect it to get done! You’ll also need to talk to foreign players about a variety of issues, and deal with congress in some way.

Anyway, with that I feel that any more would be mindless waffle; hopefully the above gives you some insight into what it’s like being CP- great fun but hard work in a nutshell.








So thank you once again to everyone I’ve had the pleasure of working with these past two months, it’s been a blast. I’m going nowhere and will be here as always to support my country!


We have done what is hard and we have achieved what is great.

Talon Karrde
Ex-Country President


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