Future Changes in eRepublik
Major Lee Hung
Based on recent and not-so-recent things the developers have been saying, we now know there's changes coming to eRepublik in the near future. Some of the below are factual, some are merely speculative. Some are for the better, and some are completely useless.
The following should help you prepare for the road ahead!
Economy Module
In every single suggestion to the developers, you can guaruntee the Economy module is in there somewhere; along with the many hundreds of articles a month about the horrible state the eEconomy is in. You'll be glad to know that it isn't going to change one bit in the near future.
The developers have concluded that giving company owners more profit is simply unrealistic - they're right. While earnings are minimal right now, inflation is under control. There have been a lot of calls in recent weeks to restart the 'Market Bot'.
#1. This bot is already active - it just buys a lot less at a much lower price to ensure prices are reasonable. It's highest priority is tanks, which it will aim to keep at a high enough price to cost people a bit of gold to fight, but a low enough price to keep q7 factories in a minimal profit.
#2. An increase in prices/bot activity will cause runaway inflation again. Gold at 2,000CC, tank prices at 40CC/tank etc. Or in Plato's eyes, much less people being tempted to buy gold during the gold promotions.
#3. The average number of companies per player probably stands at about 10/player now, even including those brand new players with a mere 3 companies. Mixed with a job at 11CC/day, the average player is earning about 80CC per day. Under the old system when the bot was active, this would have been around 400CC per day. The volume of profits for those with enough money would be ten-fold the profits of the average player and income disparity would be huge. Multiple tiers of wealth are counter-productive to the developer's plans for the game
The developers are currently planning the next economy, though you can probably expect this in Q4 of 2013 at the very earliest and I wouldn't be surprised if it was way in to 2014 before they dare to change it. Do you have a great idea for a balanced yet strategic economy that doesn't completely favour your situation? I'm sure the developers would appreciate your ideas.
War Module
This one has been confirmed - the war module is being upgraded!
On the downside, the underlying mechanics are going to be exactly the same and it's simply going to be a makeover of the current module. You'll be able to fight alongside your friends and the module will be a lot more fitting to a 2013 browser game. (Hinting at future plans to bring in more strategy and aim at hardcore gamers again...)
This change is much needed - little changes like this at least keep us interested for those few more weeks in a game where the last significant changes were a long time ago.
Military Units
Last year we were promised communal storage for military units; captains to be elected by the commanders; companies owned by the MU and not its people - a true commune system for MUs. This never happened however.
Recently, people have been demanding that this be implemented, and guess what? The developers have finally started to listen. The benefits of such a change would be huge to those looking to startup their own MU - it could even bring back a little more fun and role-playing to the game, which in turn benefits the social aspect; the element that holds the entire game together.
Politics
The last change for a long time was the change of the mechanics for congressmen. This probably won't change again for upwards of 12 months now.
Monetary Market Changes?
There are many of us who have used orgs previous, and continue to use them, to benefit from the monetary market. This has essentially wiped out the need for a lot of us to buy gold - and Plato knows it.
Expect to see a fixed-rate in the near future. You can either buy gold at 0.005, or sell gold at 200. More gold fountains will be added, and the fixed-rate will be a huge gold-sink. (The rates could even change, bringing gold up to 450-500CC per gold would be the most beneficial to Plato..)
So What Can I Do to Prepare?
The short answer is nothing.
Tank prices may increase a little at the start of the new military module - mostly because it will be coupled with a mission for its launch. If you must invest, buy tanks now.
Gold prices will fall in the medium-term, and if an MM change is implemented they could go either way. Gold isn't worth the risk right now.
There's rumours of 24 hour days coming back to eRepublik - avoid buying companies for WAM. If an economic change is made, Work As Manager will be dropped first as it causes the great inflexibility for the developers.
Hello rl time, goodbye Work as Manager?
Thanks for reading, post your predictions below! 🙂
Comments
pole
comienza a caer el reinado
muerte a mufasa
nice!
Awesome Article! You just forgot to point out the new Bazookas! That will be one of the most important changes in the game 😉
Good point! I forgot about those.. 🙁
Well, we don't know how they want to change bazookas - in one picture they put each bazooka = 2.0 Gold!
But it's clear a lot of Special offers/Missions will be available for those.
[removed]
Their aim will probably be to counter the ever-growing average strength of the population. Still being able to buy yourself a CH medal even if you only started 3 months ago and have no chance of catching up the 50k strength citizens in that time.
...or in other words a waste of gold!
V
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My 2 cents:
Most of the changes are just smoke and mirrors. New Bazooka design (Who cares?), new weapon design (Who cares?), new battlefield design (Who cares?). Design, design, design...If I wanted nicely designed game, I wouldn't play browser based game, right? Fighting multies by introducing Q0 (redesigned, of course) weapons and working in neutral companies sound good on paper, but what about 150 new accounts created on average each hour? Fact: there are 220k active players and over 7m accounts! Bringing back the forum, if it's not heavily censored, is a good thing, I think. BUT, since players will log in with their eRepublik username and password, I think it's safe to say there will be a lot more temporary and permanent bans.
My opinion: as long as gold buyers keep buying gold, there is no real incentive for Admins to change ANYTHING important. Why would they fix something that wasn't broken?
The best thing that we, as a community, can do is to send a message to silniy udar, Romper, Scymex, omg_87, Arutina and all other Titans, and politely ask them if they would consider standing up to Admins. If they like the game they're playing, NOTHING, and I really mean NOTHING that non-buyers say will make any difference in Admins future plans.
Signe😛 no gold buying player
The forum will probably be heavily censored again 🙁 The rest I agree with!
No way they will put the forum back in. It provided a public place for us to complain when they did stupid stuff, which was always.
A great article - well done.
As far as the redesigns I think it's too little too late. Many are sick and tired of the poor mechanics and module designs. Simply changing the interface to the game might please the eye but the underlying problems will still be there.
They need to look at a medium to long term strategy for the game and announce it so we have something to look forward to. Sadly, as someone has already said, while people keep paying real money for Gold Plato won't act.
Love ya work Josh o/
average is 10 companies per player and a WHOPPINF 80AUD per day, lol, dream on. I have no companies at all and I get 11AUD per day, in other words enough to fight just ONCE a week. There is no hiding it, there IS NO ECONOMY, period. At this rate TEN companies will take me 10 years to get.
This is probably countered by those with 100+ companies 😛
I think the average from Josh is about right. But Greg is also right for new players - who are going NOWHERE in terms of long term growth. $11/day is not even subsistance and doesnt allow any real growth. At best, new players can use medal gold but its still a very long haul.
I too am a member of the NO GOLD BUYING club !
well actually I am growng and not fighting all the time is keeping me from going to Div 3 too early. So far I have survived through the kindness of others,. I will buy gold eventually when my strength has quadrupled.
Good article. I cringe when I think they will change the game, because they only ever seem to mess it up more when they fiddle with it.
Great article.