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From your President's Q&A:

"2. I am always willing to talk with PEACE. In fact, I already have. I feel I would be in derelict of duty if I didn't explore that option, especially for a ceasefire. PEACE's terms were unacceptable and thus we are going on fighting. The only thing off limits is an unconditional American surrender, at least at this time."


I realize I am writing this article from the "safety" of eSpain. I admit that I have not always seen eye to eye with the eUS government - in fact my opinion of several former eUS Presidents would earn me forfeit points were I to publish them frankly. But with all due respect to your current President - any cease fire with PEACE will be more harmful than being conquered outright.

The reason for this is straightforward; consider what the single greatest advantage in this game the eUS has. It's certainly not discipline - Americans are as easy to herd and coordinate as your average household cat. It's not passion - few Americans love America as much as America-haters hate it. It's definitely not in-game natural resources - Iron has, since day one of the resource system, been the eUSA's achilles heel. And it's absolutely not the communication abilities, or administrative abilities, of its leaders.

No; the eUSA's greatest advantage is its large RL population of people with computer access. It is why the eUSA is the largest nation by population in the game, despite the initial advertising for the game and the game's early history having been dominated by Central and Eastern Europe. It is why the eUSA has the potential (note; if nothing else, this war proves you are not one yet) to be a true in-game superpower. Current and future recruiting is what makes the eUSA the emerging power it is.

It is that recruiting power that must be preserved for future exploitation. It is that recruiting power that is at risk in this war.

There is a very well known problem in eUS military circles - Americans, almost uniquely in the game world, choose to reside in their RL home state, and stay there, rather than move to the states with strategic importance. It is a large frustration for military planners, but it is insightful in the thinking of new American players - they choose to live in their own home state, by and large.

If their home state is not on the list of possible candidates, they will be intrigued, to say the least. When they join, they will most likely pick a different eUS state (at random, now, since their preference isn't on the list) and try and figure out WHY their homestate wasn't there.

If there is an active war against the nation that took that new person's state away, then that person is likely to stay in hopes of liberating their home state. There's a positive reason for that person to stay in the game, and to spread the word, if only to liberate their home in-game.


If, on the other hand, there is peace with the nation that conquered part of the eUS, that new player's reaction will be decidedly... less favorable. It is likely they will deem the game "stupid" (after all, from their RL perspective, the idea that any nation could occupy the eUS long-term is unthinkable at best), and never return. That player, and any others he could have recruited, are lost.

The third possibility, which I am advocating, is the consequence of playing a "to the death" strategy and losing - that is, that the United States will not appear on the list of possible new nations to play in at all. Canada, likewise, will appear offmap. The most likely place for those new players to go would be one of two other nations which are self-evident for English speaking players - the eUK or Austrailia. From there, these players will be agitators from day one for the independence of the eUS, neither knowing nor caring how the eUS was removed from the map, only demanding its return. This is unlike the scenario where HALF the eUS is lost - where the eUS government (rightly, I would say) would be getting the blame, and the player likely to leave because of the apparent quality of eUS players.


So, Mr. President, I urge you in all seriousness - fight to the last American; no peace with PEACE can exist so long as a single eUS state is in enemy hands, else PEACE will be assured dominance in the game for the foreseeable future. Utter defeat is preferable to servitude.