Nero

So there'sa rough figure to base yours on. If it's better than a Burke class, add more money to the cost. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arleigh_Burke_class_destroyer <- Arleigh Burke Class destroyer Here is the planned successor for the Burke class destroyers: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zumwalt_class_destroyer (figure from the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007 (NDAA 2007))

The SR thanks Japan for its pledge of support, but would prefer to not have foreign troops provide the defensive force for the Republic. I never said it was an alliance. I said it was assimilation. But really there's nothing to assimilate, since they're all Slavs and share a common ancestry and only a slighly different culture. The SR considers it, but won't sign anything just yet. The fact that they trade is irrelevant. I trade with the USA, but they wouldn't suddenly join the Slavic Republic. And by all means, invade. I will laugh as my 8,000 troops in the SR send your army running away with its tail between its legs. For the third and final time: I am not annexing them. The TFTA is a trade group. The Slavic Republic is a country. Here's the thing. Croatia is a poor country. It has been through a nasty war of independence recently, and is still recovering. So, they look north and see an increasingly militaristic Germany. They look east and see a thriving Slavic Republic, that has extremely low taxes, insanely high quality of life, low crime, and is very peaceful. Farther east is a increasingly authoritarian Russia, that has invaded countries in Africa and just annexed Kazakhstan. In Asia, they see India and Japan battling for control over Malaysia, and China annexing Cambodia and Laos. The Slavic Republic offers them to join. They don't lose their culture, their jobs, their independence. They lose next to nothing and gain everything. Why wouldn't they join? Btw, I'm hardly 'speed annexing' stuff. I took 4 days instead of 5. Big deal.

No I get everything. Talking about people not agreeing...why would Kazakhstan join a militaristic Russia? I doubt its people yearn for the glory days of the USSR, given all the oppression, lack of resources, racism, violence, war, etc. And I know exactly what I'm doing, thank you very much. If you feel that the selling of my military was a bad idea, then invade.

Again, I'm not annexing them. At quickest, they're joining after 4 days. Most of these I started talks with as soon as I started. And in case I missed some: Talks start with: FYROM, Serbia & Montegro, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Slovenia, Slovakia, and Albania. I think Albania and Bosnia are the only ones I haven't stated before.

As a Canadian, yes. As a player, no.

I'm not really annexing them. They're all Slavic-majority (or very close to) countries that are joining a union of Slavic countries. And give them all up and start again...lol.

There's no way Turkey could afford that. Do you know how costly an aircraft carrier is to build? EDIT: Ninja'd. Also, it doesn't really matter what trade alliance/association you join, as Turkey is sitting beside both 'leader' nations of the two trade groups (SR & USS..oops I mean Russia). [hide=Updated Map][/hide] Sere/Arch want to stick that on the front page? Oh, and Croatia has joined the SR. (I know I'm annoying some people with these fast assimilations, but these countries are tiny, relatively poor, and have low populations).

:unsure: Err, welcome new neighbour. Now Retech has undisputed control over Asia. Yay?

Because throwing as many men as possible at a battle doesn't really mean you have a better chance at winning. See the battle of Cannae: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Cannae What you did would be like the British sending 300,000 troops to re-take the Falkland Islands, which have a total size of 12,173 km2, and a population of 3,000. If people don't mind I'm willing to be a 'light' war judge (meaning no rolls or other complicated tomfoolery). Considering I have no real interest in Asia, or any area not immediately near me, and have next to no military it may work out.

Japan losses: 1 battleship 8 destroyers 8 other assorted ships 6 subs 43,000 men India losses: 1 carrier 24 destroyers 16 subs 96,000 men Japan wins naval battle India wins land battle -- Indian troops now occupy Malaysia, though Indian sea supremacy has been hit hard and will need at least 5 years to recover. *Is this agreeable for both parties? -- Also I'd like to remind everyone that the logistics of supplying over a million men (land), or co-ordinating an attack of over 200,000 (naval) would be a nightmare. However, since this was a relatively short engagement it doesn't really matter. But if this had lasted longer than 6 months (in-game) the Indian army would've been decimated by disease and starvation, and the Japanese would've likely resorted to shooting nails for lack of bullets.

This whole foreign policy of having buffer zones reminds of the Hittite-Egyptian battles over the area around Kadesh. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Kadesh You see, what ends up happening is that an empire will take an area as a 'buffer zone' against an invasion, meaning its an expendable area of land meant to be sacrified for the preservation of the homeland (ala Russian defensive strategy, or Roman border expansion to protect Rome). The problem is that over time, the defense of the buffer zone becomes indistinquishable from the defense of the homeland, so it defeats the entire purpose of taking the land in the first place. Having Indonesia isn't going to keep you any more safe than without it. It would be more wise to build the defenses in Japan rather than Indonesia, since one could always just bypass Indonesia and go straight for Japan anyways. Having a buffer zone that is an island is way less effective than a land buffer zone anyways.

Zz. "I can't have an Australian Australia so close to Indonesia!" I'll set up a joint space program with you if you'd like. My budget for it won't be that big, though. Around $1b USD at most per year. I also have no real intention of colonizing other planets, just doing research and maybe asteroid mining. Because you sold your entire gold reserve to buy piping and bricks for schools. You also initiated a country-wide military training program, invaded two countries, annexed Kazakhstan, and sunk a huge amount of money into building infrastructure within Kazakhstan. Cutting down on missiles doesn't really counter-balance that. Oh, and distributing thermal plating to every troop in the army. That would cost a ton. I didn't add any other reserves, just added money from trades to the existing ones. Contracts If anyone needs stuff built (military equipment, civilian building materials, etc) let me know. I'll build them for you (good for people that want big buildup, have the money to buy stuff, but don't have a massive military-industrial complex to produce it all themselves - as in, everyone but China and the US).

What do you mean about changing my reserve policies?

Looks good except for the gold reserve. I have 1403.6 tonnes.

The People's Party of the Republic is really taking off, owing to its somewhat fanatical core party base. Many are preticing a win in the election after the next, if they continue their marketing campaign and maintain a clean party image. Legislation has been passed within the SR to remove wasteful spending and earmarks, resulting in a recoup of over $800m each year. Healthcare reform is set to commence as well, that will eliminate processes that waste far too much money, and tax "elective" procedures such as plastic surgery and other vanity projects heavily. This move is estimated to save the SR a total of $1.3B SL per year. Taxes from pollution heavy factories are also started to trickle in, giving a somwhat large boost to the yearly budget. Many companies are making the choice to switch over to 'green' energy sources in the face of such high taxes. The 3 nuclear reactors have been finished building, though the one at Chernobyl is taking longer due to several setbacks and on-site accidents. Many of the workers believe the area to be haunted by the ghosts of the Chernobyl reactor meltdown, though obviously the evidence for such a thing is purely anecdotal. Efforts are also being made to create a unified Slavic language that will be used across the Slavic Republic. It has met with some resistance from groups worried about losing their culture, but is set to start its early stages in a couple months. Online courses as well as classes are to be opened in universities and colleges across the Republic, and will be a completely voluntary affair. This is estimated to cost the SR around $400m SL per year, and projections are that the country will be speaking Slavic completely by 2025. -- Palestine Thousands of former Hamas fighters have signed up for the new Palestinean National Army, and are undergoing more 'conventional' warfare training. The cost of the mission has been re-estimated, after discovering that the initial figures were much too low for the operation in Palestine. An additonal $1b (USD) per year has been added to the budget. Palestine has also begun purchasing large quantities of crude oil from the Slavic Republic to fuel the military equipment it has recieved. The Slavic Republic has also begun providing energy to the country free of cost for the next 10 years, due to the over-abundance of it within Republic lands (new nuclear reactors + Swiss energy + existing energy means I have a huge oversupply). Polls are showing that the approval rating of the Slavic Republic and its mission in Palestine are roughly 78% (in the SR), and 92% (in Palestine). The technicals that the SR were retrofitting to give to Palestine are also done, and have been sent over. A minor altercation with the Israeli Air Force took place, with the Israelis threatening to destroy the ships carrying the trucks to Palestine, but the ships cut transmissions and continued on and the Israeli planes eventually turned back.

I traded with private owners (meaning either NPC countries or NPC groups) since nobody bid on the military on Hungary or Bulgaria. You can take the money out of the account you're keeping for African Warlords #25-839.

Sounds like a bollocks system to me, wot wot.

Of course they are, don't be stupid.

40 billon, my apologies. And I got them from selling my military. There's the updated one. Though, I forget if I added the South Africa gold deal in. Meh. -- Building of a naval shipyard in Constanta has commenced. It will cost around $700m per year (half from budget, half from reserve) and be finished in 5 years. (added Hungary's gold reserve - 3.1 tonnes)

I don't even really have a miliary. My reserves. I have like...80 billion dollars of them.

Specifically implying that notes do not neccessarly have to equal the amount of Gold in your bank...Thus exchanging Notes for Gold is a little like shooting yourself in the foot...though is far more sensible in the long term, in the short term you are screwed. It's irrelevant as I'm paying with USD, wheras my currency is the Slavic Leu.

Talk to some of the guys who run the server at your dorm. They might be able to put you on the ok list.

How? If anything it would increase the value of gold, since it's being bought and put in reserve, rather than going on the market for sale normally. The Slavic Republic has sent a delegation to Switzerland to discuss the banking switchover. It has also proposed the building of multiple electricity lines to help distrubute the load and lessen the risk of a catastrophic overload due to over-use of the sole existing line.

The tax rate within the Slavic Republic has dropped down to 15%. This, coupled with recent UN intervention in the Palestinean-Israeli conflict headed by the SR has led to record high approval ratings for the conservative ruling party, and the government of the Slavic Republic as a whole. The People's Party of the Republic (PPR) has been formed, citing social liberalism and fiscal conservatism as its ideological leanings, and seeks to bring the Slavic Republic to a state of hyper-development and break the idea of Eastern Europe being poor when compared to the West. It also seeks to improve foreign relations with Russia and Germany, despite the deep-rooted dislike of Russian imperalistic ideals, and German militarism. The Slavic Republic has concluded a 'secret' deal (I have to tell you, but you won't know what country the deal is with) with an un-named country for the sale of the remainder of the Hungarian armed forces' equipment, and the order of 100,000 AK47s, and 30,000 technicals. The SR will make 50 tonnes of gold, as well as $25b from this sale. Education reform withing the SR is going well, also. Many students have begun seeking work with their lengthened free time. Jobs are readily available due to the rapidly booming economy of the Republic, and this move has led to an increase in productivity within the workplace by around 1-2%. Many companies and corporations within specialized industries that formerly held headquarters and manufacturing centres in Geneva are setting up in the Slavic Republic, after having leaving Switzerland (kind of expensive to get trucks built in Switzerland out if you have to drive over a couple hundred minefields on the way). Compaq, Stemedica, Weatherford International, STMicroelectronics, the Mediterranean Shipping Company, JT International, Hewlett Packard, DuPont, Serono, and SITA have all made the switch to establishing headquarters within Bucharest. *A large-scale re-building of the finanancial district within Bucharest is also being planned, with many homes in the area being purchased by the SR government to clear a larger area for the district. Some families do not want to move, but many are jumping at the offer to sell their home for above-market value. *A massive cleanup of the Dâmboviţa River is also planned, to help present the image of Bucharest as a shining example of a modern city. *Total cost for these projects is estimated at roughly $80b USD, to be paid for over the course of 10 years. (10b of the NOK in reserve, + 5b of the USD in reserve is being used to help pay for the above two projects - rest will be taken out of the budget) -- Alright, I think I only have around 200-300m left to spend each year from my yearly budget (not including reserve funds), so I have to wait for some existing projects to finish. Doop de doop. Let's see how far I can stretch these last pennies (ha!).

OUR? Sere if you going to use your position as mod to take control over the UK to add more flavour to the game, please make a distinction between when you're playing as moderator and when you're just playing [as the US].