Where NOT to Fight

Day 3,932, 04:56 • Published in Greece Greece • by Asterios C

I would like to see some variation of Ikariam Alliance General powers being introduced in the New World. Technically, this could apply to the macro-level of Alliance Leaders and the meso-level of Country Ministers of Defense. However, since I prefer bottom-up structures, I will argue for an implementation on the micro-level of Military Unit Commanders (and/or 2nd Commanders, Regiment Captains).

Ikariam Alliance Generals can:
1. See all military units belonging to the members.
2. See incoming attacks on members' towns; and members' attacks on enemies; and members movements towards ally towns.
3. Withdraw members' en route military units



You see Ikariam Generals have a very clear picture of what other players under their command are doing and can actually orchestrate operations in multiple ways through actively overseeing logistics (see 1), reconnaissance (see 2) and -most crucially- deployments (see 3). Game-mechanics provide them with both the information they need to make informed decisions about battle tactics and with the tools to act upon them, swiftly and concisely.

It is true that dedicated eRepublik MU Commanders can have apparatuses in place that allow them to interrogate the game and acquire the information they need to effectively monitor member activity after the fact. But when it is imperative that they actually dictate it on the fly, there’s little they can do. They can struggle to be strategic, but they’ll always have a hard time being tactical. Yet effective warfare demands both.

Sure they can post Deployments and Combat Orders (CO), but that’s hardly ever enough. In addition to designating where to Fight, making clear where NOT to Fight is of high priority as well. Sometimes (see current TW scenarios), that’s what really is of utmost importance and everything else lags behind. Taking a leaf out of Ikariam’s playbook, we can go with a full-fledged matching dashboard for MU Commanders which would allow them to:

1. See all MU members’ warmaking assets (say Bazookas, Boosters, Energy Bars, etc)
2. See members’ deployments (where they actually Fight)
3. Stop members from Fighting in a particular Campaign/Battle

Or we can stick to the essence of this proposal and opt for a less-intrusive touch-up by introducing a mechanic alongside Deployments that will penalize Fighting in particular Campaigns so as to deter players from squandering damage.


This article was written as an entry to Sisk’s contest 'Other game inspired features for eRepublik'