[V2]Suggestion for More Realistic Gameplay

Day 808, 22:16 • Published in United Kingdom United Kingdom • by Dishmcds
This is completely theoretical, but is something I've been wondering about for ages. With the introduction of V2 rumoured to be on the way, here's how I thought they may implement it. I doubt it, but one can hope.

London, United Kingdom;

As he looked out from his desk at Ten Downing, Dishmcds thought of all the men and women that were about to enter into battle. The fight was finally here, the one that would decide the fate of the UK. They would either gain an upper hand, or go down with one of the riskiest manuevers the World had ever seen.

It had been weeks since the occupation of the Isle had begun. Troops from overseas started pouring into the small Island on boat after boat, crowding the once small locales around the region. It began with troops from N&L landing in Scotland, overpowering the Scotland militia after several intense battles in the Highlands. Troops from Maine, Delaware, and Massachusetts rolled onto the hills of Wales and the Southwest. It took them three days to occupy, but eventually the overpowering reinforcements from the US overtook the small but sturdy forts in the area. Losses in the area were heavy on both sides, but the US had gained a foothold. President Jewitt had ordered troops transferred from Florida to Delaware as reserve, backups in case their plan backfired, but thus far, it seemed to be working. He knew that the SouthEast was heavily guarded, and they would need a massive strike to overtake the stronghold.

To the North, the Viking Hordes had combined to advance into the North and East of England. They managed to overpower the English while their attention was placed on the Americans, although their numbers were slowly dwindling due to the cold and moisture. Seems like they picked the wrong time of year to cross the channel.

The English, however, had another idea in mind. In a surprise manuever, they were sending in a battalion of heavy infantry from Upper Normandy, where they kept a base to aid in safeguarding France. They hoped they could catch the Americans at nightfall, unsuspecting of the artillery fire that was about to pound their bases from the Naval fleet which accompanied it, supporting the ground troops advance. They had hoped to knock them back to the beach, and eventually off the Island.

Simultaneously, they had hoped to launch an invasion from their Military installation in Northern Ireland. Heavily guarded, it was the second biggest military camp in all of Britain, housing four full battalions, and three Naval fleets. They hoped to catch the Vikings off guard, pushing them to the Eastern border, and into full retreat.

It was a risky manuever, but with the right timing and manpower, it was doable. All they could do now was watch, and wait.

Now, something I had been thinking about for a while now, and something that was originally thought of during the Canadian-American war back in April of 2008 was that we could only attack regions with troops who lived in adjacent regions. This was evident when Pakistan started moving troops to the Iranian border (when they were going to liberate it from the rule of self proclaimed Emperor Koroush), and something we had thought of in attacking Manitoba (which, at the time would have been the easiest place to split the nation directly down the middle in terms of resistance and strategic attack points).

This, however, was not the case. Basically, as long as you control the region, you can defend it from anywhere in the World. We have seen this in the history of almost every war, from the Romanian and Norwegian occupation of Russia (and Western Siberia, HellyKitty, and the Urals), the Hungarian occupation of HelloKitty, Romania's occupation of Podolia (and Ukraine on the whole), the various occupations of India and China, Australia, Greece, and other countries who have pretty much been wiped out for resources, and so on. In military actions, one of the most important factors in most wars is your ability to maintain a constant supply line. In Erepublik, that doesn't really exist. You can defend a colony from halfway around the World.

For example, Hungary controls Inner Mongolia and HelloKitty, but nothing between there and their original regions. We're all aware of it's value, which is the same as Karnataka to the US. The theory behind it is basically that you build yourself a landbridge, get to wherever you want to get (usually through region swapping with allies), and attack it, using Resistance wars behind you to remove any possibility of distraction. This technique has been used many times in many instances to gain footholds in valuable regions, by both sides.

But, what if you had to maintain that constant connection to the region, or your defenses were weakened? What if your ability to defend your regions depended on your ability to get troops there? What if you actually had to maintain that empire you built, just to gain your crown jewel?

Now, I'm sure you're asking me, right now: What benefits would this have for Erepublik?

Well, there are plenty. For starters, if you had to transport troops to the areas adjacent so they could attack or defend, the markets for moving tickets and gifts would increase exponentially. You'd need to move troops much more, meaning you'd need to heal them that extra point or two much more. Gifts and MT's are probably the two slowest markets, mainly because National Armies usually supply their own, or they make bulk deals. Very rarely do tickets on the market itself get bought for good pricing (that's not even mentioning the current lack of need to upgrade, for just about anything).

Second, it would make each region actually have purpose. You'd have to decide how many people need to live in each area, and how valuable it's defence is. If you had to defend each region, you'd need to space your troops out to do so, and it would make things much more interesting.

Thirdly, to go along with the second point, if you had to station troops in various locations, you'd also need to purchase more Defence Systems and Hospitals to heal those troops. It's like installing Fort systems throughout the nation, and would drive the need up. Currently, both Hospitals and DS's are limited because most countries are only going to need a couple, and DS formulas are outdated to the current damage output anyhow. Unless you have 4,000+ in the region, a DS doesn't do much good. This would actually stimulate those markets, and make the construction skill worth something again.

Overall, the current level of gameplay revolves around borders, using regions as chess pieces. If we were forced to value each region for where it was and what it had to defend our nations with, it would both stimulate the game and make it much more interesting. We're operating under a National Dynamic in countries with regional fanaticism, which is hard to integrate into a game which doesn't share the same ideals.

Respectfully,
Dishmcds