Join the new world

Date: 07:25 Day 4269, Republished to the UK Day 4275
By: Hcmadman

Intro
I can claim no special right to criticize the way the game works, nor the way eGovernments handle policy in the constrained environment of eRepublik.
I will however talk about a side effect of the current state of the game and offer some theoretical solutions.



Constant Occupation
Currently, most eNations have some of their territories occupied, the reason is quite plain to old hands, in most cases it is either the product of training wars or the result of an alliance, neither of which comes with any malice attached. Though it is always of annoyance, old hands understand it, not so for noobs, they join eRepublik in their home region most of the time. This proves to be a constant source of disenchantment for new players and adversely affects their longevity. Something must be done about this, but we as players are virtually powerless to change the status quo unless we wish to make our eNations more vulnerable to real attacks.

So then what can we do? The answer is to lobby for new features in the game!
I hear many scoffing at the idea of developers adding features proposed by a twerp writing an eNewspaper, I hear you. But to succumb to defeat without speaking is an assured fate, to speak against the problems of our day offers a glimmer of hope.




Red vs Blue Wars
The oldest culprit of non-aggressive territorial occupation is the training war, I think we can all agree that training wars are vital to character building and advancement. But could there be a better way? In RL red vs blue wars occur all the time, NATO exercises, Vostok exercises etc etc.
The participants don't really invade the territories they hold their exercises in, so why must this be the case in eRepublik?




Simply put the developers should add a training war or RVB option, and instead of the victor taking territory they should win a trophy that imparts some special perk (example, +2% productivity etc). This would result in more incentive for countries to participate in training wars while simultaneously reducing the frustration of new players accidentally landing in occupied territory.



Overseas Military Installations
The second cause of non-aggressive territorial occupation is the mutual defence premise/allies projecting their influence across the globe.
The idea of overseas military installations would solve this problem, many RL nations engage in this practice without totally owning the host regions, why not in eRepublik? Your text to link here...







An installation could be granted by host nations for any combination of currency, gold, resource concessions, or simply for a defense agreement at no fiscal cost. This would be mutually beneficial for both defense agreements as well as those countries who want foreign jumping off points for military adventurism.



With that I cast my ideas into the chasm of public discourse.