Just Monika

A bouquet of tropical orchids and a letter were sent to Atlanta, to welcome this new country in the Americas. While quite far away, in this globalised world, what did such distances matter? "The Kingdom of Thailand wishes this new country well and we do hope that maybe one day, there might be a meeting between our states to bring us closer together." -Pacharapun Mahawan, Prime Minister of Thailand

New government journeys around, seeking good neighbourly relations Proclaiming that "Thailand shall seek peaceful and friendly ties with its neighbours", Prime Minister Pacharapun Mahawan has started a new era of foreign policy. It has been reported that just a short while ago, Thailand has held a meeting with the Ottoman state, agreeing on the exchange of embassies, discussion of trade ties and a potential exchange of students, though such still is being worked out. An ambassador to the new embassy still has to be appointed, but it is expected to happen soon. Minister of Foreign Affairs Charupong Thammasan has travelled to Rokkenjima, meeting with his Rokkenjima counterpart Crestia Bel in their capital of Evatrice, to discuss a variety of matters for a better understanding between Thailand and this important regional neighbour. As both sides seem dedicated to a peaceful coexistence, it is hoped, that there will be a strengthening of trade ties in the future. Minister Thammasan has stated that he hopes regional dialogue can also be established with the Chinese soon, given they, just like Rokkenjima are an important regional power with a considerable border with Thailand.

While the Thai government appreciates the offer of friendship and welcomes any Salazarstani diplomat to visit Bangkok, we'd like to point out that this is the National Broadcasting Service, responsible to bring news to the people, not the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, responsible for dealing with foreign actors. We thank you for your consideration.

A New Parliament The results from the elections yesterday are final, the Thai National Liberal Party has won a majority in the House of Representatives with 278 of the 500 seats. They thus beat the Thai People's Party, which only reached 143 seats and the minor parties of the Green Thai Party (63 seats), the Thai Social Democrats (14 seats), the United for Thailand Party (2 seats). It can be assumed that the next government will be headed by National Liberal leader Pacharapun Mahawan, who already thanked the Thai voters for their trust bestowed upon the TNLP. This is a harsh day for the TSD, which has lost an unbelievable number of support and likely will have to work for the next four years to restore faith into the party, lest they might end up being completely voted out of parliament. The UTP also has had far less success than initially thought, barely making it into the House. His Majesty, King Rama XI has expressed his approval of the free and fair elections and hopes for the next government to govern the realm well, fair and just. The newly elected National Assembly will also be the first to be seated in the new Parliament building in the centre of Bangkok, at the banks of the Chao Phraya. The new building, the Sappaya-Sapasathan blends modern architecture with traditional styles and was constructed over the last 6 years to address the increasing lack of space in the old building. The new parliament building will also house a museum, a convention centre, offices of the representatives and more. Future Prime Minister Mahawan has stated that the TNLP is now looking to increase investments within Thailand and the region, to build a nation fit for the challenges of the times ahead.

Official nation name: Kingdom of Thailand Population: 75.8 million GDP: $550 billion (nominal) Population density (sq. km): Not going to bother calculating that. Form of Government: Constitutional Monarchy Describe your Nation IC: A Southeast Asian nation with a long history as a sovereign and independent state. As one of the few countries that can proudly proclaim to never have been fully subjugated by imperialist powers, Thailand is a growing economy and looking for a bright future. Describe yourself in OOC terms: The country or myself? The country is just Thailand with Laos added. Me, I'm just a roleplayer looking for some nice time RPing a country. Thailand looks interesting. Please link your lore or other information that is canon: Not posted yet. Have you read, and do you agree to abide by, the rules? (Yes/No): Yes. (You must not have a history of continuous rule breaks in the national affairs subforum!) Where on the map do you want to be located? (Using real-world geography/nations, or a self-provided map): Thailand and Laos. I think it's 28 provinces. Nation flag link (if you have a specific one you want to be used): https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_Thailand.svg

Ha, Europe. English calls it Germany, French calls it Allemagne, Spanish calls it Alemania, Polish Niemcy and German Deutschland. Tell me about your standardisation and how languages are similar. At least though, they all are not as dissimilar as for example East Asia, where for example the Sea of Japan vs Eastern Sea is a political naming dispute or the Tsushima Strait is either the strait inbetween Kyushu and Korea or only inbetween Kyushu and the island of Tsushima, based on which side of the strait you ask.

"Standard" is relative and even RL, countries use different names for the same things. So, I guess you could just rename things to whatever, not like others have to comply.

Thanks. Do others have suggestions or preferences?

Also, the drop in food production. Overall, nukes always were a backup asset. Something you could use when everything else failed. Thus they cannot be destroyed by anything other than espionage operations and have a high chance of hitting, even with the enemy having VDS. But something that is essentially a backup plan is hardly ever a good main asset and whether they deal 100% or 50% damage, their damage can even be matched by just running 4 ground attacks instead (in pure infrastructure, not in actual value of infrastructure destroyed, which would be higher), not to mention aerial and naval bombardment. And let's be real here, whether you drop 2k or 1k per day in damage on one city, it's not too much of a difference. Heck, drop 3k and it wouldn't be that much of a difference. Why? Because of the around 50 million it costs to get a 3k infrastructure city, the vast majority of value is in the top 1,000 infrastructure, the next 1,000 are a few million worth, the last 1,000 is likely cheaper than your nuke upkeep. So, the reduction in damage isn't making them all that much less scary, just, they are not too scary overall (especially when 3 naval attacks in return shave off over 1k in three cities, hitting where it hurts). And while nukes might dissuade people from hitting you just for economic gains or for no reason at all, if you keep antagonising people left right and centre, don't act surprised when at some point, certain folks decide that a few billion worth of setback per nation is worth seeing your alliance wrecked. To a certain degree, this thread alone already might be worth it to some.

When I remember how overnight Alex updated the economy back in the day, 3-4 weeks seems pretty long.

As I was thinking of joining maybe ORP (I'd rather have it somewhat detached from my ingame nation, given that while I don't mind the theme for the game, I'd rather not RP a literature club), I was wondering where I should go. I'm not asking for a map, I found that on my own. I just want suggestions, given I'm not too picky. Thanks.

You have a very optimistic view on Pantheon's economy. Also, I have no clue how they managed to have lower gov cause this much trouble, but I'm just glad it is not my money.

A person with 4 cities and less infrastructure per city could wreck you though, because they will likely outnumber you in critical areas (like aircraft and tanks) and they'll have double the replenishment rate. Playing tall is not done by most people, because it is a terrible strategy disincentivised by the game mechanics. And I may not have played tall myself, but given where I am, I don't think I made major mistakes.

As a whale, this update reduced my manufacturing output by like 2/3, my raw ressources output by 1/2. If I were willing to put in some money, I might get it to a 50% decrease overall (by running some modest levels of pollution instead of being on 0), but yeah. I still don't get people saying "small people can now profit from not being undercut", when small people will likely just as well have lost half or more of their production, because their buildings just produce plain less. and even if ressources will be worth more, if you just have less of them, you can't claim to have more profits overall. Not to mention, if everyone produces 50% less, then well, it still is easier for whales to throw the surplus of what they still manufacture onto the market at low prices than it is for small guys not able to rely on commerce. Also, I laugh at the "You now have to think about what you are doing". Within like 2 hours (owing to multitasking and the number of cities), I fixed my nation, there still are optimal builds and without having to purchase raws for manufacturing not supported by my choice of continent, I have even less of a need to log on frequently, because there's little to do and manage. I'm not sure that this is what one deems a successful game. I would personally have deemed it way more useful to not intervene on the supply side of things, but rather on the demand side. Introduce a consumption of ressources also in peacetime (beyond buildings and projects that are 1-time purchases) like military upkeep or consumer goods. Put it at levels where whales just cannot produce enough to cover their consumption, while smaller peeps with industry focus can produce a solid surplus and you have your healthy market where upper tier nations are forced to buy from lower tiers, while the new nations starting out aren't forced to struggle with a production that was cut by half or even two thirds. It puts the burden on upper tier and makes managing the nation a bit more engaging, not just whack the lower tier and make whaling a minimal effort thing where I only need to get on for wars, city purchases and buying stockpiles post-war.

You say that, but do you know how much time it took me to rearrange improvements in over 20 cities?

Not really. Ressource production got nerfed hard. Needing 4-5 more improvements to have max commerce is a joke vs the amount of improvements one now needs for proper ressource production and the amount of pollution that incurs. It means those of us reliant on commerce for income produce far less, but we also don't rely on production for income, so most o our income should be intact. Those on lower levels though, who now flat out produce less per slot...

3 Stadiums, 4 Shopping Malls, 4 Banks, 5 Markets, 1 subway.

I logged on to like 3.8k pollution. I got to 0 by getting rid of what now is frankly unprofitable refing capacities. As an Asian nation, all I do is make gasoline, uranium and food, which means I no longer refine everything else too (though I produced far less of most things than I produced gasoline), but I also no longer need to check the market for when raw ressources are cheap and can just neglect it till next war, when maybe my stockpiles are no longer sufficient afterwards. Is this what was intented to happen? I doubt it.

No, I get as much money from my population as before, I just need 5 more buildings for it. Which is easy to get when I just scrap all the refineries that don't rely on my own raw ressource production (and make my pollution skyrocket). And the amount of money I do get from my population far outweighs the amount of money I could get out of my ressource production... or well, out of what was my ressource production pre-update.

What I think too, as I lined out here. As an upper tier nation, the one thing that pains me most is that I have to go through 24 cities and rearrange buildings, Otherwise, I can just grab me some popcorn and watch the market burn, because I have everything I need stockpiled and I don't even need to purchase raw ressources anymore.

So, since the latest update, ressource production and commerce have been made much harder. Arguably, to improve the overall economy of the game. I guess it might be a bit early to discuss outcomes already, but honestly, from what I see so far, when restructuring my own nation, I cannot really see how this would long-term improve the matter and prevent the trend towards lower market prices. I see the ressource production will plummet, but I don't see how it really will help the small guys. On the one hand, as a large nation I will no longer produce ressources that are not favoured by my continent anymore, because the pollution and slot cost of doing so would be crippling. On the other hand, this means I no longer need to import raw ressources. I cannot help but think that a nation starting out in this game will inevitably find a lack of interest in their raw ressources, because most refiners might just produce their own raw ressources and refiners on other continents will cease to exist. Maybe some folks will be dedicated refiners without the raw ressources, but it doesn't sound like it is worth the micromanagement and it still means there's a sharp decrease in the need for raw ressources, while new folks will also have to deal with a sharp drop in output. Unless market prices double, a starting nation pretty much lost a good part of its income. And will this change mean I'll buy more ressources, now that I don't produce my own stuff anymore as a large nation? Not really. I consider my stockpiles sufficient. I'm practically saturated and any other nation that hits certain amounts of stockpiles similarly will feel saturated, which means sooner or later we might just reach that point where market prices will decline again. Personally, I do think that it would've been more useful to not mess up ressource production, but to instead reinstate something from the good old days of the beta, which was constant ressource consumption. It would mean that even during peacetime there's a need for ressources, it would stop the mere accumulation with little consumption and it would be far less harsh on folks starting out, while being a greater burden on those who keep massive militaries that would require constant gasoline and ammunition to maintain. What do other people think about the update?

I rather write my stuff alone, before I get kicked by group of people who decide they don't like me or they like the other person more. The argument "people in the RP have no friends" might sound funny, but it is neither universally true, nor is it guaranteed to be forever that way even if it were true. Also, people don't need friends to get votes, only aligning interests. Making this some popularity contest is pretty much even worse than any other concept I could draw up, ranging from proper rules and moderation to having two people sit down and negotiate common terms for their war or even just the status quo, because apart from replacing a bad system with a broken system, you add an option of favouritism that has serious potential to cause OOC arguments and poison the atmosphere.

Well, I'm no expert on these things, but if I have to fight, I rather fight something I can look up. Not something that was made up to look cool in some show. Then I rather keep to myself and not bother at all.

A response was sent, asking how to get to Evatrice, given that the Moecracy was interested in sending an envoy to see this strange land, but that they had no means of leaving Earth at the current time. A similar response was sent to Cheonsa, though here the matter was more that the Moecracy had no clue where Mutiara was. Clear instructions would be appreciated, preferably including a map, so that even the somewhat geographically challenged diplomats of Mionésie could find their way.

Lee Young-suk and this guy here bring up a good point, in that without consent, there's really no regulation. And I'm not sure that will work out well. Rather, it'll likely fail horribly. I'm no expert on RPs, but even so, I can see that if there was no consent rule, what would keep anyone from hitting me with whatever strange loltech they had? At least currently, I can just tell someone to shove their mecha battlesuits and space battleships up their rearend, because I have no intention to deal with any unreasonable sci-fi fantasy element there exists, which practically is OP by design, because how in the name of Madoka am I to argue that anything beats your super-duper uber-mecha, when noone even knows how it properly works and the sole person defining that is the user? So, the sole way to get rid of a consent rule is to establish actual rules that restrict the excesses of scifi fantasy tech and establishes ways to determine outcomes that are not ambigious and "who cries the loudest". Now, personally, as long as there is some way that I don't have to deal with every silly crap, I'm happy and I'm not going to advocate abolishing consent or your excesses. But it must be clear that one requires the other and that without consent, this RP will be broken till the day that actual regulation hits the other area. If that doesn't happen, abolishing consent is silly. And for that to happen, it will be up to the community to determine what on Orbis you people want this RP to be like, some kinda free-form RP or some properly-regulated system. Both are valid concepts with their own respective merits, in my opinion. But fantasy without consent works pretty much only when all RPers are on the same page and work it out between themselves, which by no means is guaranteed here. I don't even know most of you. Also, as you might have guessed by the preceeding two paragraphs, I have little love for battling outlandish concepts. It's to me just some pain I want to avoid. Still, I acknowledge that a good part of the community would prefer not to part with that, so, as long as I will not have to argue, I won't argue. I hate arguing, it is not what I'm here for. However, I am also acknowledging that there is a merit to abolishing consent wars in a system that is not entirely consensual, and regulating thigs more. In which case, there'll be less freedom, but I would argue, that such is not the end of days and that sometimes some lines have to be drawn and certain RP has to be tamed for other RP to exist and the best way to avoid arguments is by providing proper regulation that keeps things moderated and from getting out of hand.