[Pichu Gaz.] WDIB2 Interview, A Holy Uprising and more!

Day 3,566, 20:36 • Published in USA Serbia • by chriscoded


Hello eUSA, and the rest of the eRepublik!
Welcome to Issue 5 of The Pichu Gazette!

Fun Fact: Senior Journalist is not Retroactive Either! Along with these big issues, I’ll try to rollout smaller mini-issues of the Pichu Gazette, for breaking news or extra interviews. So you get more content, and I will eventually get a bigger media presence. I will try to keep some of the more popular things going, and every once and awhile post a little research thingy.

Now, please welcome our new president who I bothered to interview, WhyDoIBotherToo!
Note: This interview was taken before the Israeli Annexation. I still am not going to edit anything in the interview as that’s kind of rude.
Election + Miscellaneous Questions

Q1. Do you feel like this was be a hard election to win, and why?
I felt like the campaign was fun and Jimmy is a great guy, but no, I didn’t feel like it was going to be hard for me to win. I had the backing of my party, the Feds and the USWP who have large voting blocs.

Q2. What were some of your first changes and actions?
I worked with New Zealand and Ukraine to end our total occupation of their countries and scored us 2 pretty good Training War opportunities in doing so. I also rolled out a new DoCA initiative, American Air Rank Program or AARP that supplies people who fight in air battles with 1k energy a day.

Q3. How did you pick your cabinet members?
I picked Yui because he knows our Foreign Affairs. I picked Wild Owl because I have a lot of respect for his understanding of game mechanics and his connections with other countries. I picked Melissa because she is the HBIC and is great at her job. I picked Tom Cauchon because he knows DoCA, it is a shame that something has taken him from us but I know that his replacement, Maxwell, will do an amazing job. Derphoof, that crazy pony VOLUNTEERED.

Q4. As a quite the well-off and well-established player, do you have any advice for players just getting started?
Don’t quit. Get involved in a Military Unit and a Political Party. Ask questions and pay attention to how things are done. Game mechanics have changed very little over the time I have played (off and on since late 2009) so the established way of doing things is probably the most optimal way to do it.

Q5. Since you also just won the COUNTRY Presidency you clearly have a knack or skill for politics. I’m curious as to what advice you have for new players who want to get into politics, and for players who want to run for president.
It is the same as Q4. Get involved. Get informed. Make friends, get to know people, learn. Don’t focus in on just one thing that YOU want, being CP is not about what you want, it is about what is best for the Country and the player base in general.

Domestic Affairs

Q6. So, you’re bringing back a lot of programs, and even bringing new ones such as the AARP Early Bird Special to the eUSA. Do you have any other programs you plan on reviving or starting?
I want to bring more attention to Meals on Wheels (MoW) which gives 500 energy daily for completing a web form. I also have ideas for forum fun, but without Congress approving funds for DoCA, I am probably stopping with what we have in place now.

Q7. Are there any problems in eUSA that you are going to try and fix?
The only issue I saw with the eUS was communication. The new Country Feed really has allowed me to communicate so much easier than any previous CP ever could. It takes a lot of effort to write articles constantly to tell people about things and having that new feed makes it so much easier. I love that “improvement”

Q8. Do you have any ideas to address the one major issue plaguing eRep, which is player retention, in the eUSA?
We live in a time where it is extremely difficult to attract and keep people’s attention. Getting people active and engaged can keep them around, but only until some new and shiny object comes along to get their attention. With the power curve so greatly stacked against new players, I don’t know if there is a solution to keeping people.

Q9. Is there anything else you’d like to talk about involving Domestic Affairs that I may be overlooking?
No, I think we covered Domestics pretty well.

International Affairs

Q10. I see you moved the occupations of Ukraine and New Zealand to Training Wars. The one major question I have is why, especially when we could’ve placed many reparations on both Nations?
New Zealand asked us if we would be willing to convert to a Training War. We don’t need their territories so we agreed to it. Ukraine, that is a different story. We held them down and kept them from having a Congress for 3 consecutive months. 3 months in this game seems like an eternity we gained no additional resource bonuses. Continuing to hold their regions was just going to cost us money. It was a better decision to release regions, let them get back to being a country, and maintaining a presence there through a Training War.

Q11. Do you have any plans to improve Pacifica, or do you like the current state of the alliance?
There are always things that can be improved upon.

Q12. What do you plan to do involving Serbia, especially with how dangerously close to us they are and their dangerous power?
I have no plans involving Serbia.

Q13. Do you have any MPPs that you plan on starting or ending, and why?
Not really at this time, but we are always evaluating our MPP stack.

Q14. Although we’re very far from an airstrike energy-wise, I was wondering if there were any wars you are planning to start?
Funny you should ask. We are currently loading up our Airstrike for a potential adventure. Stay tuned for further developments regarding this.

Q15. Is there anything else you’d like to add on International Affairs?
My Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yui, is working on a State of the State report that will be published once he finishes his move for college.

Are there any last words you have for this interview?
Thank you for considering me for your interview candidate. You asked very fun and insightful questions.


eAmerica’s Holy War?!?! The eUSA recently airstriked and conquered Israel, a feat that Poland has been struggling with for a while. Whether or not they will stop at Israel is uncertain, but I’d be willing to wager they will not leave. (This war was obviously to promote Harambism.)
Israeli-Asterian Alliance?!?!?! Israel and Serbia have recently signed an MPP. The likely implication is that Israel may join Asteria, or is going to use Serbia’s might to kick us out. Serbia may even turn on the Holy Land once we’re out, but we don’t know. On top of that, Macedonia and Slovenia have gotten involved with separate MPPs. Romania has not acted yet.
Nordic Peace? As far as I remember, it seemed like there was always some war in Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland (possibly TW’s). It seems like they’re all mostly back to normal, and may even be ready for peace.
eAmerica releasing Ukraine and New Zealand with Training Wars! The eUSA also released their 2 new-ish holdings, Ukraine and New Zealand, from their occupation. They are now Training Wars, hopefully benefiting both sides.

I was gone and missed quite a few bills. I will still report on them the best I can though.

I do not fully remember how I voted, but I believe I voted yes on the MPPs with Colombia, Estonia, Poland and Latvia because I believe having more MPPs is always better, as it makes us stronger.
I’m beginning to vote no on CBO donations because from what I can tell, the funds are ruled by one individual who I do not know of. I don’t know whether I can trust them, or how voting them in or out would even go. Once these things are cleared up, and I am sure the funds are better there than in the country’s banks, I’ll start voting yes.
I voted yes on the MPP with Mexico. As one of, if not by far our most reliable ally, Mexico has earned a permanent spot on our MPP list. Mexico is amazing, and I hope they thrive in eRepublik.
I voted no on the Iranian MPP. I feel like Balochistan is a region we need to own to become the manufacturing kings of eRep, and Make America even better. Whether we’d negotiate with Iran or Pakistan is something I don’t know, and I’d rather not do the MPP until negotiations happen.
I voted yes on the Canadian MPP. Having allies in North America is undoubtedly the best way to keep North America stable.
I voted yes to the Peruvian and Hungarian MPPs. Both of them, while they may not be with the best of the best, are useful allies to have. And they don’t have any obvious reasons for me to want to conquer them.
I voted yes to the New Citizen Message. It looks more welcoming and is more useful.
I couldn’t vote on it, but I fully supported the Israeli Airstrike! I’d say good luck, but you guys conquered it before I could lift a finger! Good work!
The Poland MPP is basically a given yes. They are a major power and staunch ally of the eUS. There is no reason not to.
The Cyprus MPP is interesting, as this is a new MPP and Cyprus is a smaller country (to my knowledge), so I’m glad we could protect them, and I would have voted yes.
The Ukrainian NE is for our Training War deal, so there is no reason to vote no. I voted yes.
The Romanian MPP is a similar case to Poland. Great, Strong ally of the eUSA. Saying no is like a death wish to us and our alliance with them.
There were so many more MPPs! I couldn’t vote on them all (I couldn’t even run for congress!) I would’ve voted yes to them all.
I voted no to the Work Tax + Food Import Tax raises. We have so much cash, that we really do not need more.

Today I’m going to speculate on how to end this great Cold War between Asteria and Pacifica. There seems to be two ways with varying outcomes.

Peace for a While! We could end the cold war by attempting to make a peace treaty between Asteria and Pacifica and working together to make the world a better place for everyone… although this would involve settling a deal that works for everyone. And since we don’t get along for reasons in eRep and in real life, it probably would not work. The worst part is, it’d be very temporary as I doubt several countries could permanently settle the score, even in eRep.

BLOODY WAR! We could also end a cold war with a hot war. Just throw some Uranium in a microwave and BOOM! A huge war between Asteria and Pacifica would be a difficult endeavor for both sides. While both sides have heavy hitters, Asteria is stronger. Both countries have made allies across sides, so it may not be a full and true Asteria-Pacifica war, but it’d be fatal for Serbia or America. I think it’d be close, but Serbia would win as they have the raw power to hit the eUSA and hard. A full Annexation would be almost impossible, but we’d lose territory. Serbia would also likely take a hit, as they could not sustain Resistance Wars and wars with America and more countries. Either way, the outcome has a high chance of being bad for us.

So, while the cold war may not be the best, it is better than no America or no war.

Today on the first part of this segment, we have the idea of suggestions to get more people to write in eRepublik. We have a sever lack of writing that must be filled.

My idea of starting a contest clearly did not work out, since nobody entered. Maybe I just took the wrong approach, and I’d like to hear what you all think about it.

Maybe it could be improved by making it federally backed, since that brings more security.

So, please discuss your suggestions for the war system in the comments section. I’ll try to look and engage in the discussions going on down there as well.


I also have Another Question! What was the most fun you’ve ever had in eRep?

The main reason I’m asking is because if it’s an event that is replicable without killing eAmerica, then we could try to bring it back so more people can have fun with it!
That’s a wrap on our fifth issue! I hope you all have an amazing day, and a prosperous eLife!

Post Issue Notice
I’m very sorry for the delays… I went on vacation and didn’t have the issue finished before then. I hope you all understand. I will try to release issues once every 14 days (at the very least. Will shoot for once every 6 days), with some content posted every 6. Thank you for your patience. 🙂

Also, I got to see Dear Evan Hansen recently. It was amazing, and if anyone here was lucky enough to score a ticket, I hope you’ll love it as well.