Join the new world

The overview of the future economic module.

” As for the regions, we would like to announce that current regions' importances will not decrease. -- we decided to keep the Iron resource in game, which will provide raw materials for Rifles and Artillery companies. The current diamonds get converted into Titanium, which will be used as raw material for Tanks and Helicopters. So, as you can see, the “hot spots” of the New World not only that are preserved, but some of them become even more important, like the old high-diamonds regions.”

These new features regarding the new economy module and the most intriguing parts of it, new resources and products, will drastically change the polarization of the eWorld after they have come into effect, and it is extremely important to understand how these updates will affect our daily lives in eRepublik in the future. This is why I will try to analyze and predict the effects of Titanium and the future geopolitical situation, which will definetly concentrate around this essential resource.

The future of Iron

Life in eRepublik circulates around war. We work to get money to buy guns, or if we are truly dedicated, work in a military company to produce the very same guns we shoot at enemy. Training is done solely to raise our skills on the battlefield, and even politics is heavily influenced by war, as many candidates have been elected after they’ve promised war to occur on their terms.
Warfaring is done by using guns, and guns need Iron to be produced. This is why the 11 regions where high iron are located are so crucial to the entire game and why the dream of having a one is ranked high on every self-respectable nation’s wishlist. However, by implementing Titanium the admins will reduce the impotance of Iron, but it hasn’t disappeared totally.

This is a wise move, as the world has been in a standstill for nearly three weeks without any major conflicts occuring, and as the global shortage of Gold has some influence over this issue, the unpredictability of the future surely has something to do with it as well. Why would an alliance push their strenghts to the limits and spend tens of thousands of Gold to conquer a region which could be a useless wasteland two months later?

In the future, Iron can only be used to produce guns and artillery, Titanium is required to make tanks and helicopters. This is nearly the same idea many people have been toying, an idea that raw materials would have different qualities so their amount could be increased. For instance, it would require more Copper to build a weapon, or food would be easier to make from grain than from Fish. However these ideas will most likely never become realities, but instead of them Iron is made a second-class resource, yet still important. Many superpowers will have extremely hard circumstances to reach any sources of the new Titanium. The nearest sources from Hungary are located in Canada, unless Russia is willing to share one of theirs.
This could lead to their population focusing only to the military skills which can be provided with supplies from their own country. Hungary, owning Iron, would concentrate on Infantry and Artillery. If their only source of iron is captured, it would lead to the most powerful military in the world to rely entirely on to imported raw materials.

So it should still be a high class priority to toss Phoenix out from Liaoning and Heilongjiang.

The four hubs of Titanium

Iron is extremely rare, as there are only 11 regions where high Iron is located. However the new resource, Titanium, which will replace Diamonds are even rarer. There are only 9 regions where the future high Titaniums will be. Even better, or worse, these regions are concentrated into 4 hubs, where there is atleast 2 high Titanium right next to each other. These hubs are Northern Canada, Eastern Russia, Australia and South Africa. There are also medium regions in India, Malaysia, USA and Brazil, but I doubt they will have any more importance than the current medium Irons.
The new critical regions will create a whole new geopolitical situation. The battlefields of Heilongjiang, Karnataka, Asturias and North of Brazil will fade away and make room for the new, future struggles for Nunavut, Western Australia, Gauteng and Far Eastern Russia. Let’s take a closer look in to each of these hubs of Titanium and the new hot spots of the eWorld.

Canada



Titanium regions: 2
Allegiance: Eden
Willingness to swap: High
Threat of attack: Low, but existing.

The two Titanium regions of Canada will form the core of Eden’s Titanium industry and serve as a balance for Russia’s Titanium regions. These regions, Nunavut and Northwestern Territories are close to Eden heartland, and a major Eden power, the United States is close enough to safeguard them and perform strategic manouveurs in case of attack. There is no major Phoenix power neighbouring Canada, and they have not activated MPP😒 powerful enough to wipe them out. However Canada has ceased to exist once before, so with huge sacrifices and dedicated effort it could be possible for Phoenix to claim these regions.
I am totally endorsing Canada to give atleast another one of their regions for a major Eden power to maximize the effect of these regions. Canada is in the end a relatively small country, so it would serve Eden’s purposes even better if both regions would be given for example USA and Poland, so we could extract the most of these regions. However it’s ultimately Canada’s call on how they will manage their regions, but it would make no sense for Canada to have two of the most powerful resources of the future eWorld.
Ultimately, these are the best regions Eden will possess in the future, and will serve as new Asturias and Central Greece.

Russia



Titanium regions: 2
Allegiance: Phoenix
Willingness to swap: Low
Threat of attack: Minimal

On the other side of the Bering Strait, the Titanium sources which will fuel Phoenix’s tank- and helicopter factories in the future will be located Far Eastern Russia and Eastern Siberia. Russia is a superpower, and these regions will be safeguarded with intense accuracy. Presumably both regions will be flocked by Russian citizens and foreign labor, making the population of both regions huge and attacking them immensely hard, or nearly impossible. USA has some active MPP😒 against Russia, but yesterday we witnessed the 17 allies of Russia can put up 10 million damage with no tanking at all. Add the substantial walls and the critical importance of these regions, and you have a mission impossible.
The risk of losing these regions to a foreign power is minimal, but they will propably have a big influence over Phoenix’s internal affairs. These sources of Titanium will turn Russia to be the most powerful nation in Phoenix, not militarily maybe, but their economy will skyrocket and Serbia, Hungary and the rising power Brazil will be totally dependant of imported Russian Titanium. Russia has extremely bad memories of giving regions to allies, and as Eastern Siberia could be given to Hungary or Serbia, it will most likely not happen and it’s a wise decision indeed because Russia will profit immensely from providing all of Phoenix’s Titanium.

Australia



Titanium regions: 2
Allegiance: Eden
Willingness to swap: High, but hard to execute
Threat of attack: High

The two Titanium regions of Australia, located in Queensland and Western Australia, will raise the regions owned by Eden to 4, thus having advantage over Phoenix. However these two regions will be lower in importance compared to the two regions in Canada, and this is because Australia is fairly small country, so they can not profit completely from having 2 Titaniums. Australia is isolated from the other Eden countries, so another of the regions is practically going to waste because it would require plowing through Indonesia to get to the region and swap it to a major power. USA has some active MPP😒 against them and time will tell, will they be taken advantage of.
Threat of attack is high, because Australia borders Indonesia who for sure would like to have some Titanium, and they have enough grudges against Australia to start a war against them.
If the balance in South Africa tilts to Brazil’s favor, an attack from that side could occur too, exposing Australia to a double-pronged attack.
Finally, crossing the Indian Ocean brings us to the last hub.

South Africa



Titanium regions: 3
Allegiance: None/Eden
Willingness to swap: Low, extremely hard to execute
Threat of attack: Extremely High/Constant attacks

V2 will not bring relief to the endless miseries South Africa has suffered. The stream of countless PTO😒 and invasions will certainly not stop after South Africa will receive 3 Titanium regions. This wet dream of any nation will actually turn in to a curse, because South Africa is a small nation and the weight of having third of all Titanium in the world will be too big for them to bear. In fact, I believe South Africa will never again see a day when they possess all of their regions, either Brazil and Argentina occupy some/all of them or Australia have to safeguard them from PTO😒 or invasions. This part of the world will most likely be the stage of constant struggles over the 3 Titanium regions, but if we ever manage to squeeze a major Eden power through Indonesia, South Africa would be the perfect place for a Titanium colony. The regions go to waste if managed by South Africa, but still, it’s a better option than them being managed by Brazil.

Overall

Long story short, we will see lots of interesting events and wars where motive is to control the world’s Titanium resources. Russia will seize power and South Africa will become a war torn battlefield, Canada and Australia will rise and Spain and Greece will fade, but not disappear from being the masters of the World’s most desired resource.



Titanium. I’m lovin’it.