[eBE] The last eRepublik changes, and the small countries...
Day 1,119, 17:01
•
Published in Belgium 
•
by
•
by Azor Ahai Reborn
To my international readers : this article is about the last eRepublik changes and how it can affect small countries. Please stay subscribed and vote it up !
[eBE] The new war rules, the new ressources, the natural ennemies, and the small countries...
Dear fellow citizens and others readers,
As you we all know, the game have taken a new direction since 2,3 weeks and the introductions of some new rules. These rules have been implemented by the admins to achieve one main goal : to improve the erepublik experience for casual players. These changes have been criticized by many players, while some others welcome them with enthusiasm. If all is not white or black, the situation of the eWorld have changed and won't be anymore the same one we knew for some times already. But if all countries have to face these new changes, some are in quite difficult position : the smallest countries...
Before to continue, let me summarize the last changes made by the admins :
1) New ressources : new ressources have been implemented, and the whole world map have changed. Each region have now a high ressource, and each country have only 5 maximum types of ressources on it original map. There is ten ressources, and each ressources bring a % bonus of production for the national industries. Raws give +25% in production, and others ressources gives +5% in food or weapon productions (with a maximum of 25
2) New war rules : the initiative rule have been bring back from v1, only one region can be attacked by a country, no battles fee, and automatic attacks after 24h if the CP didn't attack an other region manually before... Only way to end a war : make peace, wipe out the country, or loose common borders.
3) The natural ennemies : each country can now choose a natural ennemy, and will benefit from a 10% bonus in damages against their natural ennemy, and a free war will be open. Peace can't be signed before 7 days.
These rules have a lot of consequences for small countries... The new ressources is something nice, but unfortunately it will help more once again the biggest countries. If the admins tried to not advantage the biggest countries, with limiting the number of differents ressources on it original map, it's hard to believe than tomorow, eBelgium, or eNetherlands, will launch a war against bigger countries to conquer a region for it bonus... Conquering the region will be hard, but holding it will be even more hard. But moreover, the new war rules will impeach the small countries to attack their bigger neighbour : with no battle fee and auto-attacks, starting a war will lead to the destruction of their own country. Admins could say that a small country which have attacked an other one to conquer a region, which lost, and now which have to face a counter-attack, can still sign peace with their opponent. If the desire for more diplomacy is nice, i don't believe countries will agreed to make peace easily if they can conquer new regions, or if they have lost one of their original regions. But the situation can still be worse : the smallest countries were a bit protected from wars before because others countries had to pay a Declaration of War, which could be quite expensive... But now, with the natural ennemy feature, each country can have a free war, and everyone is in permanent danger.
How to explain these changes ? There is a difference between how admins think, and how we, the players, the active or experienced players, think... These new changes have been made because it seems new citizens lost interest in the game if they have no war to fight in, and if they can't fight for their own country... Fighting through MPP is not fun or important for new citizens, according the admins. That's why these changes have been made, and that the MPP price have still not been changed for a while... Small countries asked to have a MPP price calculated on the same basis of the DoW, with a percentage of population included. It could have been a fair solution for small countries which have to pay a lot of gold to be able to fight and to provide wars for its new citizens, but it would have been a kind of reward for the countries with a small population, according the admins. To ]create a permanent state of war, which every single countries directly involved, that was the main goal of the admins.
Will it be a success ?
For eBelgium, these new rules won't change a lot our situation... Some countries just don't want to go in war, because they just can't afford it, in terms of gold or damages force. Does eBelgium will declare a natural ennemy ? Does eBelgium will enter in war with the risk to see it own country destroyed and wipe out of the map in less than three days ? I can tell you : we won't...
What are the possibilities ?
When we look at the current map, we can be pessimist... The first victim of these new rules is eGermany : ePoland and eItaly have declared them natural ennemies and Sweden have also DoW them. eFrance seems to have more difficulties with their two front, eCanada at north and eSpain in south, and will defend it own territory. eUnited Kingdom is still in war with the eUSA and have to conquer back all their regions. Finally, eNetherlands is preparing for a war, without knowing from where it will come... Pretty sad future...
The situation of eBelgium eNetherlands are not so different : we are two small countries, with a small population (550 / 800 citizens), with a low numbers of regions (3 and 4), few ressources, and a small active population. During the last 12 days, i have started talks with eNetherlands to reach a deal about a possible merge.
A merge ?
As you may know, eBelgium and eNetherlands have already merged before and this experience could be criticize by a lot of citizens, it remains the most successfull union in eRepublik. It had some very good sides, and some others which were more negatives. But the situation have change, and now a merge could be a perfect solution for small countries in the eWorld. As our last union was made under the NL flag, i asked to made it under a BE flag. Why does i saw a merge as a successfull answer to the last erep changes ?
This could provide us a better economy, with a bigger market and bigger productions bonus (+15% in food, +10% in weapon, +25% in oil/iron). This could provide us cheaper MPP costs, and an increase of our international position, thanks to a bigger dammages influence. This could provide us a bigger media scene, with a lot more interesting articles. This could provide us a bigger political scene, with a fierce competition, real politics, where it won't be possible to enter in the Congress anymore with one or two votes, it will also be stronger for ptoers to have access in our congress. There is really a long list of positives sides, even if there is still the risk of RWs. Our countries have a long shared history, and it could have been easier to make a mege in good conditions than for others countries.
I don't tell you right now that i'm in favor of a merge. I just tell you that it's for me the more logical thing to do, today, in eRepublik, for a small country.
As Country President, i had to study every single option for our country, and that's why i talked with some NL citizens about it. My government agreed to let me take the temperature, even if i didn't want to debate of it in public, to not make harder the possible negociations... First i talked with a dozen of experienced NL citizens, that i met on irc, and i asked them if they could agree on the idea of a merge under BE flag, with all the advantages and the disadvantages of a merge. 70% of them were positive. Then i contacted the NL President, and we talked about the different options we had. He told me that he had debated of it with some elders, and that after a forum vote, the idea of a merge had been refused. I have to say it have surprised me a bit because they now study the possibily to be wipe out in the next weeks. Does the disadvantages of a possible merge are bigger than the disadvantages to be wipe out ?
An other advantage of a merge could have been our capacity to hold foreign regions for their bonus... Yesterday, after different meetings, eGermany and eBelgium have reached a deal to let eBelgium conquer North-Rhine Westphalia, a high aluminium region. This would have request us to declare eGermany as Natural Ennemy, to have a free war, and to launch a free battle on NRW. With ePoland, eSweden, and eItaly attacking them on the same time, our borders with eGermany would have been closed before the end of our battle for NRW and then the war would have been ended after this conquest. The difficulty was to beat eGermany and their 11 mpps, and to stay in good diplomatics terms with our new neighbours. Our government finally decided to not take this nice opportunity, and to remain careful, as each day can bring a new danger for us.
Anyway, the debate of a possible merge is now closed before to have been open for the belgians citizens, as the eNetherlands didn't approved it. Which futures for our countries ? For the small countries of eRepublik ? Be prepared for the worst, but keep dreaming of the best...
L’Union fait la force ! Eendracht maakt macht ! Einigkeit macht stark ! United we stand, divided we fall!
ThomasRed
President of eBelgium
Don't forget to vote this article up and to subscribe to this newspaper to stay tuned !
[eBE] The new war rules, the new ressources, the natural ennemies, and the small countries...
Dear fellow citizens and others readers,
As you we all know, the game have taken a new direction since 2,3 weeks and the introductions of some new rules. These rules have been implemented by the admins to achieve one main goal : to improve the erepublik experience for casual players. These changes have been criticized by many players, while some others welcome them with enthusiasm. If all is not white or black, the situation of the eWorld have changed and won't be anymore the same one we knew for some times already. But if all countries have to face these new changes, some are in quite difficult position : the smallest countries...
Before to continue, let me summarize the last changes made by the admins :
1) New ressources : new ressources have been implemented, and the whole world map have changed. Each region have now a high ressource, and each country have only 5 maximum types of ressources on it original map. There is ten ressources, and each ressources bring a % bonus of production for the national industries. Raws give +25% in production, and others ressources gives +5% in food or weapon productions (with a maximum of 25
😵. Companies are now linked to a country, and not anymore to a region.
2) New war rules : the initiative rule have been bring back from v1, only one region can be attacked by a country, no battles fee, and automatic attacks after 24h if the CP didn't attack an other region manually before... Only way to end a war : make peace, wipe out the country, or loose common borders.
3) The natural ennemies : each country can now choose a natural ennemy, and will benefit from a 10% bonus in damages against their natural ennemy, and a free war will be open. Peace can't be signed before 7 days.
These rules have a lot of consequences for small countries... The new ressources is something nice, but unfortunately it will help more once again the biggest countries. If the admins tried to not advantage the biggest countries, with limiting the number of differents ressources on it original map, it's hard to believe than tomorow, eBelgium, or eNetherlands, will launch a war against bigger countries to conquer a region for it bonus... Conquering the region will be hard, but holding it will be even more hard. But moreover, the new war rules will impeach the small countries to attack their bigger neighbour : with no battle fee and auto-attacks, starting a war will lead to the destruction of their own country. Admins could say that a small country which have attacked an other one to conquer a region, which lost, and now which have to face a counter-attack, can still sign peace with their opponent. If the desire for more diplomacy is nice, i don't believe countries will agreed to make peace easily if they can conquer new regions, or if they have lost one of their original regions. But the situation can still be worse : the smallest countries were a bit protected from wars before because others countries had to pay a Declaration of War, which could be quite expensive... But now, with the natural ennemy feature, each country can have a free war, and everyone is in permanent danger.
How to explain these changes ? There is a difference between how admins think, and how we, the players, the active or experienced players, think... These new changes have been made because it seems new citizens lost interest in the game if they have no war to fight in, and if they can't fight for their own country... Fighting through MPP is not fun or important for new citizens, according the admins. That's why these changes have been made, and that the MPP price have still not been changed for a while... Small countries asked to have a MPP price calculated on the same basis of the DoW, with a percentage of population included. It could have been a fair solution for small countries which have to pay a lot of gold to be able to fight and to provide wars for its new citizens, but it would have been a kind of reward for the countries with a small population, according the admins. To ]create a permanent state of war, which every single countries directly involved, that was the main goal of the admins.
Will it be a success ?
For eBelgium, these new rules won't change a lot our situation... Some countries just don't want to go in war, because they just can't afford it, in terms of gold or damages force. Does eBelgium will declare a natural ennemy ? Does eBelgium will enter in war with the risk to see it own country destroyed and wipe out of the map in less than three days ? I can tell you : we won't...
What are the possibilities ?
When we look at the current map, we can be pessimist... The first victim of these new rules is eGermany : ePoland and eItaly have declared them natural ennemies and Sweden have also DoW them. eFrance seems to have more difficulties with their two front, eCanada at north and eSpain in south, and will defend it own territory. eUnited Kingdom is still in war with the eUSA and have to conquer back all their regions. Finally, eNetherlands is preparing for a war, without knowing from where it will come... Pretty sad future...
The situation of eBelgium eNetherlands are not so different : we are two small countries, with a small population (550 / 800 citizens), with a low numbers of regions (3 and 4), few ressources, and a small active population. During the last 12 days, i have started talks with eNetherlands to reach a deal about a possible merge.
A merge ?
As you may know, eBelgium and eNetherlands have already merged before and this experience could be criticize by a lot of citizens, it remains the most successfull union in eRepublik. It had some very good sides, and some others which were more negatives. But the situation have change, and now a merge could be a perfect solution for small countries in the eWorld. As our last union was made under the NL flag, i asked to made it under a BE flag. Why does i saw a merge as a successfull answer to the last erep changes ?
This could provide us a better economy, with a bigger market and bigger productions bonus (+15% in food, +10% in weapon, +25% in oil/iron). This could provide us cheaper MPP costs, and an increase of our international position, thanks to a bigger dammages influence. This could provide us a bigger media scene, with a lot more interesting articles. This could provide us a bigger political scene, with a fierce competition, real politics, where it won't be possible to enter in the Congress anymore with one or two votes, it will also be stronger for ptoers to have access in our congress. There is really a long list of positives sides, even if there is still the risk of RWs. Our countries have a long shared history, and it could have been easier to make a mege in good conditions than for others countries.
I don't tell you right now that i'm in favor of a merge. I just tell you that it's for me the more logical thing to do, today, in eRepublik, for a small country.
As Country President, i had to study every single option for our country, and that's why i talked with some NL citizens about it. My government agreed to let me take the temperature, even if i didn't want to debate of it in public, to not make harder the possible negociations... First i talked with a dozen of experienced NL citizens, that i met on irc, and i asked them if they could agree on the idea of a merge under BE flag, with all the advantages and the disadvantages of a merge. 70% of them were positive. Then i contacted the NL President, and we talked about the different options we had. He told me that he had debated of it with some elders, and that after a forum vote, the idea of a merge had been refused. I have to say it have surprised me a bit because they now study the possibily to be wipe out in the next weeks. Does the disadvantages of a possible merge are bigger than the disadvantages to be wipe out ?
An other advantage of a merge could have been our capacity to hold foreign regions for their bonus... Yesterday, after different meetings, eGermany and eBelgium have reached a deal to let eBelgium conquer North-Rhine Westphalia, a high aluminium region. This would have request us to declare eGermany as Natural Ennemy, to have a free war, and to launch a free battle on NRW. With ePoland, eSweden, and eItaly attacking them on the same time, our borders with eGermany would have been closed before the end of our battle for NRW and then the war would have been ended after this conquest. The difficulty was to beat eGermany and their 11 mpps, and to stay in good diplomatics terms with our new neighbours. Our government finally decided to not take this nice opportunity, and to remain careful, as each day can bring a new danger for us.
Anyway, the debate of a possible merge is now closed before to have been open for the belgians citizens, as the eNetherlands didn't approved it. Which futures for our countries ? For the small countries of eRepublik ? Be prepared for the worst, but keep dreaming of the best...
L’Union fait la force ! Eendracht maakt macht ! Einigkeit macht stark ! United we stand, divided we fall!
ThomasRed
President of eBelgium
Don't forget to vote this article up and to subscribe to this newspaper to stay tuned !
Facebook
Twitter
Discord
Comments
v
I'm Vulcain and I approve this message! 😛
V!
Voted and suscribed!
vote
Damn, you are good Thomas.
I must vote this article, and you make me feel to go to Belgium : 3.
HAIL BELGIUM!
Voted and subscribed
v
"the idea of a merge had been refused"
not the idea of the merge Thomas, only the idea of the merge ubder BE flag.
Very good article mate! voted!
voted
Voted
"the idea of a merge had been refused"
not the idea of the merge Thomas, only the idea of the merge under BE flag.
=> That is a ridicules reason to vote against a merge with so many positive sides. Gentleman, in my humble opinion it is really, truly time to stop squabbling over peanuts and look at the bigger picture!!
I don't think the condition set by the Belgians to merge under BE flag, could have a change in the first place. To enter a negotiating with eNetherlands with this point on the table, as starting position made the negotiations already pointless to begin.
Lets just merge and take a monkey with a banana as flag!
problem solve😛)
and for what reason is good not to take the NRW?
eGermany is going to be wiped out anyways and since eFrance is already in posession of one region, we could do it as well. I'm sure eGermans would be more than happy to be getting at least some money (assuming they wouldn't be giving us this region for free, would they?)
just another fail.
and about the union... well, if the eDutch don't want a union under eBE flag... tough luck, start the talks in our country, government, congress about the union under eNL flag... but yeah, it's either your way or highway, got it by now.
no vote, no sub.
The position of the BE government have been clear since the start : if there is a possible merge, it have to be under BE flag, or they won't be a merge. The Netherlands have to show some respect for our country, and have to remember that the last time, the Union have been made under NL flag. Moreover, the main elders i have talked with accepted the idea of a merge under BE flag, while it have been refused later. You can find a lot of arguments to make it under NL flag, but we can also find a lot of others arguments to make it under BE flag. But at the end the most important is eHistory, and it would have been fair to consider it under BE flag. And i'm a bit shocked to see Shaker's reaction... Especially from a LSD leader (but the party could have change a lot since january09). To declare that the negotiations were pointless to begin because we wanted it under BE flag can be taken like an insult to our flag... 😒
To conclude with tiltas, who have always nice words for me and my work, the proposition i made to eGermany was to take the region for free, indeed. It have request some negociations to reach a deal, and the timing wasn't perfect anymore when i got the final answer from my german collegue... (4 wars launched at the same time would have help us to beat their 11 mpps). We had also to consider poland options... Anyway, thanks for your comment, it let me explained the things a bit better... 🙂
[removed]
Negociating about a merging behind the back of the congress...
We shall oppose any merger under Dutch Flag!
Informing, Xgentis, not negotiating... ; )
No decision would ever have been made without eBE Congress consent.
(PS: Maybe I should write Google to - in addition to Google Translate - create a "Google Summarizer" for TR's and Konrad's articles... : P )
Finally a decent article 😉
lol NL under BE flag not even outside of reality that is ever going to happen.
@Mitch Rapp Then an merging is impossible because we won't accept the Dutch flag etheir 🙂
And for me, not because i can't live under a NL flag, as it's just a flag, and that all the positives side are amazing, but because the last union was already under NL flag, and that now it would be the time to do it under BE flag, for history, and for mutual respect.
Did you see them respect us? They have no respect for us at all.
That's dont mean we have to be direspectfull too. 🙂
If there is no agreement, there is no agreement... That's it.
I'm not going to discuss about the + and - between being united under NL or BE flag as I'm not RL Belgian or Dutch so it makes no difference for me.
However, the argument "last time was..." is just an argument of power, instead of using powerfull arguments. Just saying.
The same is argument "NL will never be under BE flag" lacking of some common sense.
I sincerely don't doubt that talks have been started with a sincere wish to accomplish a mutual benefit, however, lets not throw sand into our eyes... NL is a firm ally and member of Phoenix, while we say we're neutral, though there are proofs we're going on a way to Eden or at least Brolliance. So a possible union would have this as some sword hanging above it's head. Is this what we want? Do we really want to start a Union (under whichever flag) with threats like "you'll get wiped out by Poland/Sweden/Italy/the smurfs... so better you join us? I don't think so.
However, we do always have an option to write to Poland and propose an MPP and wipe out eNL and take all their economy over 😃
I'm sure ePoland doesn't have the need of their regions as they have the resources elsewhere.
Just saying : D
p.s.: yeah, TR, I have always lots of stuff to say about yourself. and i'm pretty sure you know why. It's not the last elections for CP, btw.
[removed]
Indeed, to throw away an option that would be of mutual benefit over a small issue like a flag seems shortsighted at best. One can only hope that people will reconsider before all the options of both countries are removed by our larger and more powerful neighbors.
SR
BI
JA
Now that ePoland can go on rampage for free what stop them from attacking us as well?
A merge with eNL ? 😛
Like that will stop them.
"And i'm a bit shocked to see Shaker's reaction... Especially from a LSD leader (but the party could have change a lot since january09). To declare that the negotiations were pointless to begin because we wanted it under BE flag can be taken like an insult to our flag... "
I think you didn't get my point, you talked with the "experienced NL players" about a merge under BE flag, it simply looks like you wanted to let this talks fail from the beginning to argue that a merger should "only" take place under BE flag, or no merger at all. All i am saying that you putted a lot of weight on the talks with this argument. It's not a very smart starting point.
MERGE WITH FRANCE 😉
merge with france!
I am neither dutch nor belgian but considering the current state of things we really shouldn't get stuck on the flag. This kind of merge will have bigger issues to discuss than the flag.
I'd suggest to start with the main aspects of economics (and finance), politics, military and social. If we manage to put "on paper" this aspects in the form of a program and the majority adheres to it, than we can choose if eUNL will be once more united under blue-whitered or red-yellow-black.
Last time we merged we saved your ass from the Spanish but who in Belgium is old enough to remember that?
We're endebted to you untill eternity for that! Which in eRep terms is roughly 3 months 😛
You can hardly expect people to be grateful if they were born months after the merge (and the union stopped to exist more than a year ago now) and since then mostly saw tensions with the eNL...
Voted+ subed (:
We're now day 1370 and this article has great historical and even some current value!