The proxy metagame and how movement update affects it
Hello, everybody. In the development "roadmap" is mentioned a "player movement update". Let's talk about how it will be gold for a (not so) new strategy era.
The proxy question
Most things in-game that we refers as "proxy" refers to indirectly using others to perform your interests.
Indirectly because you aren't opening wars, dealing damage or whatever by yourself.
It's a huge deal because proxy wars or proxy states are basically a way to have a extra hand to perform a extra move.
The meta of proxy states
It's basis is getting able to land strikes (revolutions, wars) or hold strikes (by not revolting). Proxies states can be defensive or offensives.
From that foundations we get advanced situation, as past Romanian-Portuguese occupation of African regions, where they constantly released revolutions or countries to make it a mine field of wars, in order to decrease the speed and effort to actually occupy their regions there.
Having a proxy state is a way of having a extra card.
All of this is grey and cool in rules because it's legit gameplay. For example, in world wars everyone is having proxies wars because your allies victory will also means yours, and since the enemies are usually yours enemies, the efforts in a indirect front can benefits some another front that you are fighting by yourself. Let's call it proxy attrition. Very very mistaken foundation by leaders and their amazing ideas of "split damage" or "not creating enemies".
Roadmap flavor: movement patch
In the shared "roadmap", the game directors showed us his vibe to develop movement in game. It's also something very long discussed, since players being everywhere used to make sense when it was 40 players in the Alpha Version.
What it truly changes?
Currently wars are about moving damage in a needed time: nobody need to care for space-time, only time and those crucial ticks.
If the movement update (players are somewhere, it means they cannot hit everywhere) meets simple criterias of resources spending to move (especially if we are talking about time to move), the following layer is added for war strategy:
- That "simple" update will add "space" as a new logistical strategy;
- The group of players will have to coordinate more than pings to hit: they will need to move.
If this is only applicated for wars, I can see a very exciting patch ahead. Or not so ahead. I hope the development team really analysis how this is a extension of war strategies (just like farm take some time) instead of discarding the necessity of those time for movements.
All of this impact proxies because the movement cost creates variability in strategy, supposedly contributing to more regional shifts.