SoS

I'd say the pirate thing should only work for nones and that a none or a nation in an alliance cannot do the pirate thing to nations in alliances. That would be freaking chaos. There would be a lot of transfers of power and consolidations of power that then get stolen. When they take a "warlord's" crown they would also take his farm. I wouldn't make the tax too oppressive, though. Something like 2 - 5 % Really, I would see this as encouraging cooperation among the nones and that a few alliances might be formed as a result. Maybe, there could even be a way to opt out of the pirate scene. They could choose a pirate peace mode. They could still be raided, but they cannot take farms or be farmed. I think that taking farms would be a huge incentive to not opting for pirate peace mode, though.

The point is, we want domestic companies to have access to their lease process. That was the point of the Iraq war. Bushes' administration flatly refused to negotiate a withdrawal date until Iraq gave us access to oil leases.

The rulers not in alliances are generally not involved in the political aspect. We should find a way to include them. I have two concepts. 1. Place them in a sphere of influence, governed by a "super power" alliance. The alliance score can determine their area of influence. And they could tax "nones" at a small rate (or not). The level of "nones" in your influence could increase the commerce rate. 2. Make "none" a sort of pirate alliance. Anyone could make themselves an alliance leader. Losses in war will take the crown until you defeat the one that defeated you. You can tax anyone you defeat or requests peace in war (at a small tax rate). I imagine most nones don't want to join an alliance, but they find the game as a none boring and unfulfilling. This would give them something fun to work on.

Yep, agreed on Israeli nationalism. I don't believe globalism is currently much separated from nationalism, but I believe we are evolving all the time. Globalism still needs to develop and not be Germany aiding Bulgaria, but Germans realizing that an improvement in the condition of Bulgarians will improve the condition for all.

Zs are nice. War chests for perk swaps are no less a strategy than cool down timers? We have a mix of swap and timer considerations already. A timer strategy would OP the aggressor, who already has too much advantage. You would have the aggressor attack fully mobilized and military perked and they set back the defender x days before they can go military and back to Econ again. That's too much. Warchests is more strategy than a time that an aggressor can choose and leave the defender with no strategy.

Which side will secure oil leases for "our companies"? That's what matters in the long term. Lopping off heads is surprisingly quickly forgotten. If it weren't for capitalism, we wouldn't bother with that shithole. So what's the real problem here? A-rabs or the corporations whose interests put us in stupid situations? We should just go in there, take all the oil fields, and make it all an American possession. We can drive the survivors into Turkey.

Nation ID: 529 Post count: 259 Nation link: https://politicsandwar.com/nation/id=529 Yeah, what Ollysho said...can we get a bonus for each milestone reached so far?

Give more more money to the rich

You kinda convinced me on the value of nationalism as an alternative to sectarian violence and fuzzy borders. Still, as nations progress nationalism should be used to promote globalism. A pride in ones nation contributing to the condition of all people.

Maybe, reset cost should (also) reflect the number of perks a nation has. That would create a progressive cost to larger nations, rather than small and large paying the same for resets.

Idk, those plus 5% SMs are pretty choice.

It's pretty much determined by their cash on hand and your number of troops. More troops can carry away more loot. The loot for beiging is a hard percentage (I think, unless that's changed) like 15%

Antartica could become a viable continent... I think it would be hard to pinpoint the pollution culprits when everyone is doing pretty much the same stuff. Then again, destroying your natural enemies' stuff would have the side benefit of reducing pollution. So, it wouldn't make a good CB IMO.

The timeline is long enough (14 years) to collect the missing pieces later (I assume you're mainly referring to the stuff in Israel). The first sign of the beginning is the four horsemen. Every other catastrophic sign happens after their appearance. An empire in Syria and Iraq is absolutely necessary for what is written to manifest. It may be Isis or it may be whoever counters Isis. It seems more likely that it would be the faction with the broadest appeal throughout the region. Being "a sign" the appearance of the four horsemen will be recognizable to anyone with understanding. That hasn't happened yet. Aside from all this, Isis is growing in numbers, territory, power much faster than their opposition. The governments of Syria and Iraq were already basically mobilized for war. How much more can they bring to this fight? Obviously, they cannot. All that remains to be seen is if Isis can take the strongholds, one by one.

It's scientifically proven they are horseshit only half the time.

All you need to know for now is the tetrad is this year and that an Islamic empire combined with that is not a pleasant omen. There is a very specific timeline established which began on the last lunar eclipse. We have 14 months, one day, and a very specific hour. It's all in there; in black and white. Even the meaning of the hour, which it is said "no man knows the hour". You'll certainly know when that hour has passed, though. Turkey will be complicit and Israel will be subservient. One fourth of the land mass of the earth will be controlled by the four horsemen. The western border of this empire will be Israel and Europe.

Looks like a Serj painting.

The Islamic state already has elements in all those nations you mentioned. Those nations are fighting various Islamic faction for their precarious survival already. Isis is the type of ideology and organization that will bring them all under one banner and return the middle east to it's former order. You cannot underestimate the popular will of the people. World cops wouldn't be scrambling if there were a foregone conclusion. To the contrary, they have determined Isis is a serious military/political threat to the region. The success (and ultimate defeat) of this Islamic state is written in the bible. Apocalyptic hyperbole is absolutely in order. We can't have the apocalypse without the formation of the Islamic state.

I think Isis is actually a greater threat than the general population can fathom. There's practically nothing in Syria and Iraq to stop them from conquering the whole of those nations. When they have accomplished that, they will have more momentum toward their goal than we have to the contrary. They will have the resources to fight hard target nations. By the time we muster the resolve to fight them it'll be a Herculean task and likely fought in the Balkans. For thousands of years, the east and west have been fighting for dominance and survival. This is far from being something new. what's new is we're losing our heart to fight, where they have at least as much as ever.

Nah, there's nothing intuitive at all with the commerce system. 100% commerce means 100% commerce. You need to watch your gross income before and after buying a commerce improvement to really find what commerce rates are worth under your economic policy. Or, you can trust that the policies really are cosmetic and that between gross income and tax rate it will come out the same. So, assume $0.05 per commerce percentage x bonus x (original) tax rate of 29%

The way it was, 100% would add $5 to the base of $2.5 So, it's more like triple income.

I understood economic policies were only "cosmetic" so I didn't bother with new math.

Sort of a Geneva convention may be the most desirable result. A "UN" may be overly ambitious, but perhaps we can arrive at some basic guidelines for our primitive relations. I, for one, would despise a global organization here as much as I do in another realm. Which is ironic, as I support a certain breed of globalism.

Sheepy can correct me on this...In Alpha, prior to changes (and I believe he said it still works out the same), each percentage of commerce works out to $0.05 gross. It's easier for me to know what each 1% equates to. So a bank would equal $0.35 before bonuses and tax rates multiplied.

Too often it unites people in stupid and or horrific behavior.