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Citizens!

The end of the current Presidential Term is creeping toward us which means an End of Term update!

This is a bit of a light-touch update compared to the end of last term, as we largely transitioned from delivering the changes we had planned for the nation, and instead have been running our programmes from a ‘business-as-usual’ angle. In theory there will be less to say - let's see if I can end up saying lots anyway!



Defence

Last month we launched the new battle guidelines, and the eDefence Sheet. The latter is complemented by shout and message campaigns, and a great effort has gone into making sure that when we have specific outcomes to achieve in battle the information is out there and available for everyone.

We have run five Live-Fire exercises and shall run one more before Wednesday. These exercises see us announce objectives and players get points if they meet them. These points translate to cash, and are proving very insightful for understanding how and when people interact with MoD instructions, and in identifying some of the barriers involved. Thanks of course goes to those who have participated - it is a great way to top up your rewards entitlement so I hope in the next term the communication element of LFE’s can be improved upon.

In a similar vein we have run two Epics, both in Air. The timing and frequency of Epics is something we are paying a lot of attention to - too frequently and we struggle to hit the prerequisite damage, too infrequently and we lose the benefit of having a routine. I think more probing and experimentation is needed in this space to hit a good stride with it, but equally, there’s no hurry! We reward those who help raise damage in line with our coordination of fighters strategy and it is always pleasing when pre-epic turnout is high.

The next MoD update will have the list of participants and the rewards they’ve been allocated as a result.

All Fighting/LFE/Pre-Epic Rewards will be paid between Tuesday and the Weekend in line with the four week Weekly Challenge cycle, along with your juicy Citizen Dividends.



Foreign Affairs

A large piece of data gathering is taking place to enable Congress to assess the suitability of any potential TW partners, looking at metrics such as size, average campaign gaps, active battles and so on. I’m a metrics kinda guy so I’m excited to see what this produces, and very thankful to My Immanuel Kant for pulling together what is quite a big task of trawling nation pages for info.

In addition to this you will no doubt have noticed a huge amount of Region Swapping/Rotating going on over the back half of this term, and the suppression of a Resistance War in Scotland thrown into the mix to keep us all on our toes.

Rotations are frequent but a few nations called theirs early when an event was expected. I’m pleased to say it has all gone smoothly. Betafoxtrot as VCP has been very helpful in assisting the coordination of these and communicating with allies. At the time of writing we have a bit of movement left to complete with Colombia, and that should be that until the next TW partner who needs to rotate pops up (this could be soon, it could not-be soon - keep an eye out for MoD instructions regardless!).

Lastly the MoFA, VCP and myself have been very proactive in fact finding, liaising with Congress and responding to world events, especially where they impact the eUK. Over the course of the term Congress has received multiple briefs on Foreign Affairs and been invited to share views on our standing. This represents a proper approach to Foreign Affairs, the benefit of which has not only been felt by our Congress, who are better appraised of what is happening in the world, but also by allied and neighboring nations, who now engage the eUK in active dialogue, information sharing and regional planning. This is a great, albeit less obvious, success.



Finance

Finances are running smoothly! We are still committed to using the Government Transparency document for those members of the public or of Congress who are interested in where money is going. The document itself is getting quite large so consideration will be given to archiving some material to keep it easy-to-use, please offer any feedback to that matter via PM or comments.

The Tax Survey conducted last term has not generated lots of conversation, but I expect the Government will take a look and present any suggestions to Congress along with explainers of how it all works to help facilitate what are often crunchy, and sometimes intimidating discussions on how tax and income works in eRepublik.

The previous Congress approved a motion to simplify our concessions treaty with Spain, who has a new Government. This is something we have raised with them, they wanted to wait til the new Congress started and so the conversation will likely be picked up at the onset of the next CP term when we all have a bit more time!



It’s been a turbulent trading environment on the Monetary Market almost all month. Trading was very slow in the opening weeks of term, and whereas traditional MM logic would suggest the summer event would drive up the number of trades moving through the market, the ‘muted’ nature of this event coupled with the Power Spin coming back (which always devalues Gold - pretty much by design!) has meant trading has not picked up to the degree that we would have hoped over the past week.

Nevertheless, trades are trades and they generate cash, so we have made some money! At the time of writing MM profits are sitting at just over 2.4 Mil. When factoring in Dividends which were returned last month, this should still mean all citizens should receive a Dividend of at least 33k. The final valuation will take place on Tuesday and confirmation of the value will be published in an MoD update.



Domestics

You will have seen Whimsy - I have no doubt - so safe to say the MoEnt is still publishing games on a weekly basis, and fostering a sense of continuity and community spirit. Via sharing crude facts - just like a pub!

There’s been good engagement with the Ministry of Education this month, with several new or returning players engaging with resources and being sent welcome packs. A special thanks goes to those new players who made their way over to discord, and this also serves as a reminder that the eUK has a Discord and there is a mentoring channel in it where established players can answer any and all questions (in theory anyway!).

Further eUK Postcards are shortly due to be published, which you will be able to view in the Home Office Paper over the coming days.



A big thanks goes to everyone who has helped in Cabinet this month, and especially to Betafoxtrot for his complete reliability in Defence and FA and likewise to Sambo223 and Laskii for diligently pumping out Whimsy like clockwork.

As always if you have any questions simply reach out!

Mr W