Join the new world

How long have you been playing?
-I have been playing since 2010, since 2011 on this account. However, I'm not very stable in activity always and I just returned after a hiatus of over a year.

What were some of your previous jobs?
-Ever since I joined eRepublik I have almost immediately been part of the governments of the eNetherlands. Except for being 10 times the Country President, I have also served many terms as Minister of Foreign Affairs and occassionaly other Ministries and Alliance HQ positions.

What do you like best about serving in Gov't?
-Even more so in small countries with few people, I believe good people in eGovernments can compensate for their numbers. I think it's challenging to be serving for a small country, yet try to keep it relevant and that's what I like about it.

What languages are used in eNetherlands?
-In the starting years of our nation we were ''united'' with eBelgium and used mainly Dutch (and French when possible). Over the last few years however English has been the main language in order to accommodate the large number of active foreign people we have/had in our nation.

How is the eNetherlands community now?
-We used to have a fair share of political nasty fights, but that is a thing of the past now. Sadly, that may have been due to decreasing population numbers. Currently it's a bit too quiet for my liking, which is one of the reasons I returned to play eRepublik. I'm happy to see that a few pushes by me and the government already made our community feel more lively.

What were the political fights over?
-eNL has always been split in two factions, roughtly the old players of the establishment and different parties that fight against the old order. It got especially nasty when one anti-establishment party held power for over years. However, when they lost their grip on power many of them anti-establishment party emigrated (notably to eNorway) and peace and unity slowly returned. I myself had always been in the middle of those two factions and with some opportunism cooperated with both.

What good/creative things has Netherlands done to retain players and have fun in the community?
-I believe our centralized state-run Military Unit (Dutch Armed Forces) of which a large part of the population is part of is helpful in keeping people involved and therefore in the game. We also occasionally call upon dead former players by e-mailing their forum accounts. However we can't deny that our current population numbers are worrying so we ought to do more.

What were the last wars Netherlands was involved in and how did they go?
-The eNetherlands is a cautious small country but we've had our fair share of wars. The last real war I witnessed was when Croatia AirStriked us. They landed inititally but with good preperation, supplies, CO and allied support we manage to oust them before they managed to wipe us. Perhaps the best victory we've had! During my time of inactivity Mexico also AS'd us, but I can't tell much about that. Over the last year we've had a TW with eCanada so for the first time in a long time we can 'safely' wage war continously.

Tell us about Dutch MUs.
-There's really not much to say about it currently. For a long time our military was disorganized and we had plenty of MUs but since a few years we've centralised most MUs into one state-run MU (DAF) which delivers almost all damage of the eNetherlands. Notable exception is the PG, Praetorian Guard MU, that once used to be a big private-run Military Unit. But with many of their members leaving to eNorway and other countries, their damage output collapsed a bit.

How does state supply work?
-Currently we're in the process of restarting state supplies as those have been abandoned due to recent inactivity. In the past we used to work with state-communes in which members of the state MU could work. Together with income of the Monetary Market this resulted in a batch of weapons we divided over our soliders.

How do you see the social aspect of the game?
-I think it has lost most of its social aspect with the extreme focus on warfare and decreasing population numbers everywhere. However, seeing and speaking the same people for years both in my country and abroad is the reason that keeps me reviving every now and then. So while eRepublik is not very much facilitating social aspects, the people that play the game try to do so and keep the game interesting.

How is the Dutch economy now?
-To be fair our economy is small and sucks. We do not have large number of manufactorers in our country and therefore our tax income suffers. However the eDutch are very cautious with money and with good management and saving we manage to make the most out of it and can counter balance the countries that earn our month budget in one day.

From your last article:
"The Monetary Market is no longer used to earn money for our country. This has been going on for several months and essentially means we're missing out on a LOT (relative to our monthly budget) of money. This hasn't been brought up before and certainly is not a topic of discussion on the forum (which hasn't seen messages for over weeks)."
Can you talk about the Monetary market?

-Well I obviously can't say too much about the exact numbers and the likes, but with the use of enough money and organizations trading cc for gold and vica versa we always made a good buck in addition to our montly budget. Which is why I'm keen on returning activity on MM.

How come it's no longer used?
-Decreasing population numbers in general.. We only have 150 citizens and that is the lowest number we've ever seen. Back when we had 300 players we were already worried about activity, let alone now.
Not enough active citizens to do all the jobs.

From your last article:
"- The Forum is dead. Over the past couple of months we've only seen a handful of posts. Mostly about irrelevant topics like who is going to lead a zombie Forum Congress. I have given several thoughts on this topic but most of us seem fine with it or have given up all hope. After the next Congress Elections I want to run experiments on bringing it in-game (of course while still keeping faith to the legal rules for now)."
Can you tell us about the Zombie Forum Congress Leadership elections?

-As many other countries we have a forum to hold debates and the likes. However for months it hasn't been used and most important stuff happens in game, which resulted in the forum only being used for electing administrative positions over a forum congress section that is dead.

Were they close elections?
-No, no one applies and there are almost no votes. So really just a side show.

From your last article:
"- Our Communes are defunct. Despite the eNetherlands having been around 8000 gold to Heikanu and Dave Brinkman to run state factories they haven't been used for months for state purposes. No one knows exactly what their current state is now. Seems like they're now used as freebies for our commune holders (I don't blame them, as they obviously haven't been in contacts with government for ages). My team and I will start new conversations with them to see what is still possible and what is not."
Can you talk about the communes?

-We have invested a lot of money in having two Q7 factories with enough raw material plants available for communal work. However due to decreasing activity they have been kinda forgetting which is a shame because it cost us a lot of investment and is disadvantageous to our citizens
So we're seeking to find a solution to that as well.

From your last article:
"- No more supplies. While eNetherlands has been hoarding more and more money, we haven't been aiding our soldiers. We once created the national MU Dutch Armed Forces to increase our defence efficiency. With the lack of aid and (frankly) the less than desirable current command situation what is even the use of the Dutch Armed Forces? Now even more than ever we need to aid those few that remain loyal to our eCountry!"
Can you tell us about the viability of Dutch Armed Forces?

-Well there is no better alternative. It serves as a gathering place for our active and fighting population and has a rich history. It still has its uses as we can direct our damage as DAF and the Government are closely allied. With some effort it can also serve as a basis to retain players and utilize the few strong players we have with supplies.

How do you see the future of eNetherlands?
-With good management/governments I believe the eNetherlands still has a bright future ahead. We have plenty of resources and old strong players around so we can still show our worth. However if we're 'lazy' we'll just slowly die.

How is Orion doing?
-I'd say it's doing better than it looks. I believe its one of the few alliances that actually defines the meaning of an alliance. Yesterday Orion member eCuba was attacked by eVenezuela and Orion was there to protect them. The Top 4 countries of damage were the 4 Orion nations and the Top 10 fighters were all Orion based citizens. So while small I believe we look out for eachother and are willing to make sacrifices for eachother.

Can you tell us about how the French left the alliance?
-It happened during my time of inactivity so can't say much about that. France always was a bit dissapointed with Orion I believe due to their size and were seeking to join Asteria.

The End

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Quotes from the last Dutch MOFA article:

"Orion
As alliance member of Orion we are in close contact with Canada, Cuba and Estonia. The four of us have become closer than ever before since we've seen France leave the alliance. We're discussing international developments on a daily basis and help each other in our training wars. Currently all of our members have a training war and this isn't about to chance anytime soon. Canada and the Netherlands have been fighting each other for almost 250 days now. Estonia currently has a training war with the Philipines yet intents to change this training partner for a different country. Cuba has been the mostly targetted Orion member of late. They've been attacked by several countries yet with some help of allies always managed to make the best of their situation. Currently Cuba has a training war with Mexico which is still a bit turbulent as both parties often drop significant damage on the wrong side making it hard for both governments to control their training war.

Mutual Protectin Pacts
Because of our training war with Canada the government has cut down on their MPPs for a long period of time now. Canada is required to win direct battles in which MPPs play a crucial role. The government currently has MPPs with Poland and Iran.
Iran has become an economic center in erepublic after the last resources wars. The fact that they are a member of the Asteria allience ensures their safety from a large scale attack. Because of this they haven't been attacked for a long time and managed to have a very well organised training war with Pakistan. Our MPP with Iran allows citizens of the Netherlands to be located in Iran for the purpose of working as a manager an at the same time fighting in our direct battles when they are a Daily Order of our military units. It also keeps our country's relations with Asteria strong.
Poland has been a fixed MPP for the Netherlands for quite some time now. We have a long and turbulant history with Poland but in recent years they have become our ally. Currently member of the Pacifica alliance Poland connects us to the second strongest alliance in erepublik. Currently Poland has a campaign in South America fighting Chile and Argentina. We will support Poland in their campaigns to come by fighting for them. Besides their South-American campaign they also have a stable training war which allowed our military unit commanders to set a manual daily order for many months now."



"This table contains countries we interact with the most. We have more allies our government would go the extra mile for but a line had to be drawn somewhere."