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by Freeja. . 1,915 reads.

QuickStart Guide for Newbies

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NEW AROUND HERE?

This is a guide for players who have queries regarding NationStates...

NationStates is a multiplayer government simulation browser game. It was created by Max Barry and was publicly released on 13 November 2002, based loosely on his novel Jennifer Government. The game has hosted over 3.7 million nations with 112,698 current active nations in 16,223 different regions. The game is expanded by users via off-site forums to construct centers of learning, discussion, and play.


The object of the game is to lead a country in the way the player finds best. At the start of the game, the player chooses a few basic characteristics including country name, flag, motto, currency, national animal and style of government. Answers to a short questionnaire determine the initial ratings of the country's civil, economic and political rights. The nation's population starts at five million and increases every day automatically with play.

All newly created nations are founded in one region. All nations must be part of a region at any given time.

When you first created a nation, you would have spammed by telegrams. Once you have picked a region you would like your nation to reside in, you can prevent your inbox receiving more recruitment telegrams in the future, going to this page and disabling recruitment telegrams.

On the left side of the NationStates interface you'll find various things you can do in game:

  • You can make decisions affecting your nation's future by answering ISSUES. Just a warning, these issues are usually humorous, sometimes bizarre, and often have unintended consequences.

  • You can use the TELEGRAMS system to send personal messages to other nations.

  • In the SETTINGS area you can alter your motto, flag, currency and animal at any time. More options for customisation will become available over time.

  • In the REGION page you can peruse the information about region on the World Factbook Entry, or join in the conversations on the Regional Message Board.

  • In the DOSSIER page you can select nations and regions and see their ACTIVITY.

  • You'll find many discussions, some related to NationStates, others not so much, some in role play, others out of character, on the NationStates LinkFORUM.

  • There is also the option to join the WORLD ASSEMBLY, which grants you the ability to give and receive endorsements.

By clicking on your nation name at top right you can access on your nation's overview page. The OVERVIEW page gives you and other visitors a randomly generated look at your nation. The information given is mainly based on your response to issues. Say for example you decide to allow the police to carry out phone taps, you'll most likely find this particular gem of information available for all to see. It will also mention your population, the trustworthiness of the government and you as a leader in general.

From this page you can consult your FACTBOOK and DISPATCHES (statements issued by your nation) and learn more about your POPULATION (a pie-chart illustrating the leading causes of death throughout your nation), GOVERNMENT (an illustration showing the distribution of your budget) and ECONOMY (an illustration of the division of the public and private sectors).

Then, clicking on RANK, you can consult a Census Report (generate every day by the game) on a particular subject (such as culture, healthcare, etc.) and will rank all nations and regions from highest to lowest. Score well enough and you'll be awarded a little medal that appears on your nation's page. You can also CHALLENGE other nations on this topics in a in-game championship.

In the end, clicking on TREND you can consult civil rights, economy and political freedom levels of your nation.

You can have as many nations as you wish. Alternative nations that you create are referred to as puppets. You can switch nation by clicking on SWITCH icon near LOGOUT icon.

A newly-created nation in NationStates begins with a population of 5 million. Every 24 hours, the population of a nation increases. The higher the population gets, the more the population increases per day, up until the population reaches 62 million. The population of a newly-created nation increases by 1 million per day. The population of a nation is related to the descriptor of it's size. As a nation's population increases, it progresses through a series of size descriptors, which are: fledgling, tiny, small, large, very large, huge, massive, colossal, and gargantuan. As a nation's population increases, it eventually gains a number of new custom nation traits, including the capitol city (250 million), the nation name pretitle (500 million), the nation's leader (750 million), and the national religion (1 billion).


Every day, nations log on to check and answer their issues. Issues are political decisions that players make, which shape their nations as a result. The choices you make on your issues directly affect your civil rights, economic, and political freedom levels, as well as your tax rate.

#

Economic

Political Freedoms

Civil Rights

1

Frightening

Corrupted

Widely Abused

2

All-Consuming

Widely-Abused

Frightening

3

Powerhouse

Excessive

Excessive

4

Thriving

World-Benchmark

World Benchmark

5

Very-Strong

Superb

Superb

6

Strong

Excellent

Excellent

7

Good

Very good

Very good

8

Fair

Good

Good

9

Reasonable

Average

Average

10

Developing

Below-average

Below-average

11

Struggling

Some

Some

12

Weak

Few

Few

13

Fragile

Rare

Rare

14

Basket Case

Unheard of

Unheard of

15

Imploded

Outlawed

Outlawed

Over time, they also determine what type of government you have. A nation's government type is determind by an algorithm which calculates a nation's civil liberties, economic, and political freedoms and based on this result, allocates the nation a government type appropriate to that nation. There are 27 government types, ranging from Scandinavian Liberal Paradise, to Iron Fist Socialists, to Psychotic Dictatorship.

You can decide how often issues come to you by clicking on SETTINGS in the side-bar on the NS game.


These BBCode-like tags can be used in Dispatches, Telegrams, Regional Message Board (RMB) posts, Regional World Factbook Entries (WFEs), and World Assembly proposals. Not all tags are valid for all message types: see below...

Bold, Italic, Underline, Strike
Valid: Everywhere
Tags: b, i, u, strike

I [b]really[/b] like text that [i]makes a point[/i], you [u]know[/u]?
I really like text that makes a point, you know?

[strike]I really like text that have a line through...[/strike]
I really like text that have a line through...

Nation, Region
Valid: Everywhere
Tags: nation, region
Options: short, noflag, noname

I am [nation]Freeja[/nation]. Or [nation=short]Freeja[/nation] for short. But you can simply call me [nation=short+noflag]Freeja[/nation].
I am Freeja. Or Freeja for short. But you can simply call me Freeja.

[region]Dreamia[/region] was the very first region in the world.
Dreamia was the very first region in the world.

@Nation
Valid: Everywhere
Tag: @

To create a fast link to a nation, I simply say \@Freeja.
To create a fast link to a nation, I simply say Freeja.

Should I want to prevent an @ sign from turning into a nation link, I say \\@Freeja.
Should I want to prevent an @ sign from turning into a nation link, I say @Freeja.

World Assembly Proposal
Valid: Everywhere
Tag: proposal
Option: proposal ID

Please support [proposal=separatist_peoples_1416233457]my proposal[/proposal]!
Please support my proposal!

World Assembly Resolution
Valid: Everywhere
Tag: resolution
Option: council ID (GA, SC, or UN)#resolution ID

The foundation of modern WA legislation is [resolution=GA#2]the Rights and Duties law[/resolution].
The foundation of modern WA legislation is the Rights and Duties law.

Spoiler
Valid: Everywhere
Tag: spoiler
Options: text to display on button

[spoiler]Surprise![/spoiler]
Surprise!

[spoiler=Try this one, too!]Boo!![/spoiler]
Boo!!

Link
Valid for nationstates.net links: Everywhere
Valid for other sites: Dispatches, WFEs
Tag: url
Options: URL

Did you know the guy who wrote NationStates is [url=http://maxbarry.com]Max Barry[/url]?
Did you know the guy who wrote NationStates is LinkMax Barry?

A lot of people live in [url=http://forum.nationstates.net/]the forums[/url]!
A lot of people live in the forums!

You can actually omit the [url] tag for full URLs, like this: http://www.nationstates.net/page=faq
You can actually omit the [url] tag for full URLs, like this: page=faq.

But it's usually most helpful to provide descriptive text, so people know [url=http://www.nationstates.net/page=faq]this link leads to the FAQ[/url].
But it's usually most helpful to provide descriptive text, so people know this link leads to the FAQ.

List
Valid: Everywhere
Tags: list, *
Options: 1, a, i, A, I

[list][*]One
[*]Two
[*]Three[/list]
  • One

  • Two

  • Three

[list=1][*]A more complicated list, which contains a nested list:
[list=i][*]"1" is 1, 2, 3...
[*]"i" is i, ii, iii...
[*]"a" is a, b, c...[/list]
[*]And the above can be capitalized, for A, B, C... and I, II, III...[/list]
  1. A more complicated list, which contains a nested list:

    1. "1" is 1, 2, 3...

    2. "i" is i, ii, iii...

    3. "a" is a, b, c...

  2. And the above can be capitalized, for A, B, C... and I, II, III...

Unformatted text
Valid: Everywhere
Tag: pre

[pre]You bold like [b]this[/b]![/pre]

You bold like [b]this[/b]!

Color
Valid: Dispatches, WFEs
Tag: color
Alternative name: colour
Options: name or hexidecimal code of color

I [color=red]love[/color] a little [colour=#FF9900]color[/colour].
I love a little color.

Quote
Valid: RMBs
Tag: quote
Options: name of author;post ID

[quote=freeja;4970610]It's an outrage![/quote]
Freeja wrote:It's an outrage!

Background color
Valid: Dispatches
Tags: background, background-block
Options: name or hexidecimal code of color

Backgrounds can be applied to [background=yellow]highlight a few words[/background].
Backgrounds can be applied to highlight a few words.

[background-block=yellow]Backgrounds can also be applied at the paragraph level, which is especially noticeable...

...when it flows over multiple lines.[/background-block]
Backgrounds can also be applied at the paragraph level, which is especially noticeable...

...when it flows over multiple lines.

Font
Valid: Dispatches
Tag: font
Options: name of font(s), in order of preference

[font=Courier]What a beautiful font![/font]
What a beautiful font!

[font=Times New Roman, Arial, sans]What a beautiful font![/font]
What a beautiful font!

Alignment
Valid: Dispatches
Tag: align
Alternative names: center, centre
Options: left, right, center, justify

[align=center]Centered text.[/align]
Centered text.

[align=right]Right-justified text.[/align]
Right-justified text.

[centre]This is also centred, especially if you're British.[/centre]
This is also centred, especially if you're British.

Image
Valid: Dispatches
Tag: img

[img]http://www.nationstates.net/images/foot_jg.png[/img]

Float
Valid: Dispatches
Tag: float
Options: left, right

[float=right][img]http://www.nationstates.net/images/foot_jg.png[/img][/float]
[float=left][img]http://www.nationstates.net/images/foot_jg.png[/img][/float]
Images float on either side of this text.

Images float on either side of this text.

Box
Valid: Dispatches
Tag: box

[box]A pretty box.[/box]
A pretty box.

Remember, boxes cannot contain other boxes...

Line
Valid: Dispatches
Tag: hr

This is a line...[hr]
This is a line...

Indent
Valid: Dispatches
Tag: tab
Option: number of pixels to indent

[tab=100]Some indented text[/tab].
Some indented text.

Anchor
Valid: Dispatches
Tag: anchor
Option: name of anchor (no spaces or punctuation!)

[anchor=JUMPHERE][/anchor]Useful for tables of contents.
Jump to [url=#JUMPHERE]my anchor[/url].
Useful for tables of contents.
Jump to my anchor.

Table
Valid: Dispatches
Tags: table, tr (table row), td (table cell)
Options: plain

[table][tr][td]A table's first row looks different[/td][td]Next cell[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Second row[/td][td]Next cell[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Third row[/td][td]Next cell[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Fourth row, which goes on at some length about nothing. It also has a line break in it. Here it comes. Ready? Okay!! Here it is!!
See?[/td][td]Next cell[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Hovering over a row highlights it[/td][td]Not bad, eh?[/td][/tr]
[/table]

A table's first row looks different

Next cell

Second row

Next cell

Third row

Next cell

Fourth row, which goes on at some length about nothing. It also has a line break in it. Here it comes. Ready? Okay!! Here it is!!

See?

Next cell

Hovering over a row highlights it

Not bad, eh?

[table=plain]
[tr][td]Table type:[/td][td]Plain[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Decoration:[/td][td]None[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Excitement level:[/td][td]Low[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Usefulness for formatting:[/td][td]High[/td][/tr]
[/table]

Table type:

Plain

Decoration:

None

Excitement level:

Low

Usefulness for formatting:

High


Dispatches are statements issued by your nation and fall in to one of four categories:

Factbook: Descriptions relating to your nation, or anything you choose.
Bulletin: For all things relating to gameplay.
Account: Articles or stories about your nation.
Meta: Matters relating to gameplay which stem from a real-life perspective.

For create your own dispatch go here or, by your nation's page, click on dispatches and then on write dispatch. Dispatches may be edited later or deleted. In dispatches can be applied the BBcodes...

This is a test, appropriately enough!


There are many BBcode/NScode tags to be implemented. For example, this paragraph is testing floating an image to the right. Hello, image!

This is indented a little, with the tab code.

Moving on, we have a table. Notice the first row is automatically nifty-fied.

Hello to the first row

Next cell

Second row

Next cell

Third row

Next cell

Fourth row, which goes on at some length about nothing. It also has a line break in it. Here it comes. Ready? Okay!! Here it is!!

See?

Next cell

Hovering over a row highlights it

Not bad, eh?

A link to the News page looks like normal, because it's internal to the game. But a link to Linkan external site gets a little icon to signify that.

Minor bug: links to subdomains like Linkliberal NS are treated as external.

Forum links have their own little icon.

You don't need to use tags if you're simply pasting in a link to somewhere on NS: it gets automatically URL-ified, like this: region=dreamia#rmb ...or this: viewtopic.php?f=23&t=170154


Naturally, we support the common NATION and REGION tags.

The most awesome region in NationStates is Dreamia.

I am Freeja. Or Freeja for short. But you can simply call me Freeja.

You can use UTF-8 characters natively. See: 𝄞


Now in testing: Spoilers! These come in two forms:

The kind with no special title set.

The kind that do have a title set.

This one has a few other tags inside the spoiler to make it extra fancy: the BOX and ALIGN tags, as well as having a title set with SPOILER=title. But you can't embed a spoiler within another spoiler!


Lists!

You can have nested and independent lists. So this works:

  • First item

  • Second item

    • sub-list item 1

    • sub-list item 2

  • Third item

... and so does this:

  1. List style here is 'i'

  2. You can also have '1' for numbers

  3. And 'a' for latin

  4. Plus 'A' or 'I' for as above, only capitalized

A "fake" list, with background:
• One
• Two
• Three
• Four
• Five

If you screw up a list, the formatting will break your dispatch, but not the whole page. For example:

  • Here is a list that

  • I should have closed it with a /list tag

  • But I forgot.

    Now everything below is in the list! Oh oh!

    Luckily, though, it doesn't screw up the entire page.


Wiki-style factbooks are inspired from Wikipedia articles and other wikias. In this guide, I will show you how to create an article that is highly informative, organized, and visually appealing.

Disclaimer: This guide is designed for the gameside factbooks, found on your nation page. Some codes and templates do not work well on forumside factbooks, and will not work at all on wikia sites!

Sidebar is a major part of a wiki factbook. It provides quick facts and statistics about your nation. The sidebar will be the very first thing in your factbook code:

[floatright][box][center][b]The PRETITLE of NATION[/b]
[hr]

INSERT FLAG HERE
[b]Flag[/b]
[hr]

[b]Motto: [/b]
[hr]

NSERT SMALL MAP OR ORTHOGRAPHIC
[b]Location[/b]
[hr][/center]

[b]Population:[/b] 
[b]-Density:[/b]
[hr]

[b]Capital:[/b]
[b]Largest City:[/b] 
[hr]

[b]Official Language:[/b] 
[hr]
[b]National Language:[/b] 
[hr]
[b]Demonym:[/b]
[hr]

[b]Government:[/b] 
- President: 
- Vice President: 
- Speaker of the House:
- Chief Justice:
[hr]

[b]Legislature[/b]: 
- Upper House: 
-Lower House:
[hr]

[b]Establishment:[/b] from (INSERT OTHER NATION)
Independence: INSERT FOUNDING DATE
[hr]

[b]Land Area:[/b] mile²
                          km²
Water Area: km²
Water %: 
[hr]


[b]Elevation[/b]
Highest Point:
Lowest Point:
[hr]

[b]GDP (nominal):[/b] 
[b]GDP (nominal) per capita:[/b]
[hr]

[b]Human Development Index (NS Version):[/b]
[hr]

[b]Currency:[/b]
[hr]

[b]Time Zone:[/b]
[hr]

[b]Drives on the:[/b]
[hr]

[b]Calling code:[/b] 
[hr]

[b]Internet TLD:[/b]

[/box][/floatright]

The title of your factbook is automatically set across the top of the page. There is no way to remove it. If you’d like a second, more colorful title, feel free to add it.

Your introduction section is basically a summary of your nation. The first paragraph is typically a description of where your nation is located, which nations border it, and a list of territories. The second paragraph (often merged with the first) is a brief description of your nation’s geography, usually including land area and population. The next few paragraphs are often a summary of your nation’s history, and the final paragraph of your introduction describes your nation’s position in the present day. It is essentially a ego-rub that brags about your nation’s economic status, positions of world power, and freedoms.

If you want a bit of a challenge, you can add a table of contents to your factbook. This typically comes after your introduction:

[box][floatleft][b][center]Contents[/center][/b]
[url=INSERT FACTBOOK URL HERE#Ety]1 Etymology[/url]
[url=INSERT FACTBOOK URL HERE#Hist]2 History[/url]
[url=INSERT FACTBOOK URL HERE#Geo]3 Geography[/url]
[/box][/floatleft]

To link to the table of contents above to the related article, use the code below:

[b][u][size=150][anchor=Ety][/anchor]Etymology[/size][/u][/b]
[b][u][size=150][anchor=Hist][/anchor]History[/size][/u][/b]
[b][u][size=150][anchor=Geo][/anchor]Geography[/size][/u][/b]

This is going to be the meat of your factbook, where all the tiny details you excluded above will now be recorded. If you have even more in-depth articles, you can add an indented link to your “main article” like so:

[list][i][url=INSERT FACTBOOK URL HERE]INSERT ARTICLE NAME HERE[/url][/i][/list]

The body can really have whatever you want in it, but popular sections include Etymology, History, Geography, Demographics, Government, Military, Economy, Infrastructure, Culture, and more.

You can also put a city chart in the part of the factbook usually belongs as a subcategory of your Demographics section. If you don't have one, make one. Then, make a table:

[u][b][anchor=City][/anchor]Largest Cities[/b][/u]
[table][tr][td]Rank[/td][td]City[/td][td]Metro area population[/td][td]State[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]1[/td][td]CITY#1[/td][td]CITY1POPULATION[/td][td]CITY1STATE[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]2[/td][td]CITY2[/td][td]CITY2POPULATION[/td][td]CITY2STATE[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]3[/td][td]CITY3[/td][td]CITY3POPULATION[/td][td]CITY3STATE[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]4[/td][td]CITY4[/td][td]CITY4POPULATION[/td][td]CITY4STATE[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]5[/td][td]CITY5[/td][td]CITY5POPULATION[/td][td]CITY5STATE[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]6[/td][td]CITY6[/td][td]CITY6POPULATION[/td][td]CITY6STATE[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]7[/td][td]CITY7[/td][td]CITY7POPULATION[/td][td]CITY7STATE[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]8[/td][td]CITY8[/td][td]CITY8POPULATION[/td][td]CITY8STATE[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]9[/td][td]CITY9[/td][td]CITY9POPULATION[/td][td]CITY9STATE[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]10[/td][td]CITY10[/td][td]CITY10POPULATION[/td][td]CITY10STATE[/td][/tr][/table]

For insert an image you will need to upload your images to an image-host site (see resources). Once you have upload image on image-host site, get the image direct link and past it between the image bbcode tag:

[img]INSERT IMAGE URL HERE[/img]

For the complete list of bbcode tags consult the BBCODE TAGS section. Anyway, here is the source code for a wiki factbook template. You can simply copy/paste this template and fill in the information...

[floatright][box][center][b]The PRETITLE of NATION[/b]
[hr]

INSERT FLAG HERE
[b]Flag[/b]
[hr]

[b]Motto: [/b]
[hr]

INSERT SMALL MAP OR ORTHOGRAPHIC
[b]Location[/b]
[hr][/center]

[b]Population:[/b] 
[b]-Density:[/b]
[hr]

[b]Capital:[/b]
[b]Largest City:[/b] 
[hr]

[b]Official Language:[/b] 
[hr]
[b]National Language:[/b] 
[hr]
[b]Demonym:[/b]
[hr]

[b]Government:[/b] 
- President: 
- Vice President: 
- Speaker of the House:
- Chief Justice:
[hr]

[b]Legislature[/b]: 
- Upper House: 
-Lower House:
[hr]

[b]Establishment:[/b] from (INSERT OTHER NATION)
Independence: INSERT FOUNDING DATE
[hr]

[b]Land Area:[/b] mile²
                          km²
Water Area: km²
Water %: 
[hr]


[b]Elevation[/b]
Highest Point:
Lowest Point:
[hr]

[b]GDP (nominal):[/b] 
[b]GDP (nominal) per capita:[/b]
[hr]

[b]Human Development Index (NS Version):[/b]
[hr]

[b]Currency:[/b]
[hr]

[b]Time Zone:[/b]
[hr]

[b]Drives on the:[/b]
[hr]

[b]Calling code:[/b] 
[hr]

[b]Internet TLD:[/b]

[/box][/floatright]
[size=200][b]NATION NAME[/size][/b]
[hr]

The PRETITLE of NATION commonly called NATION, is a GOVERNMENT TYPE in LOCATION. It is bordered on the north by OTHER-NATION, on the south by OTHER-NATION, by the east by OTHER-NATION and on the west by OTHER-NATION. NATION covers LAND AREA square kilometers and has has an estimated population of POPULATION. NATION comprises of NUMBER SUBDIVISIONS and NUMBER TERRITORIES.

DESCRIPTION OF YOUR NATION’S ROLE IN THE WORLD

[floatleft][box][center]Contents[/center]
[url=INSERT-FACTBOOK-URL#Ety]1 Etymology[/url]
[url=INSERT-FACTBOOK-URL#Hist]2 History[/url]
[url=INSERT-FACTBOOK-URL#Geo]3 Geography[/url]
[url=INSERT-FACTBOOK-URL#Demo]4 Demographics[/url]
[url=INSERT-FACTBOOK-URL#Pop]4.1 Population[/url]
[url=INSERT-FACTBOOK-URL#Lan]4.2 Language[/url]
[url=INSERT-FACTBOOK-URL#Reli]4.3 Race[/url]
[url=INSERT-FACTBOOK-URL#City]4.4 Largest Cities[/url]
[url=INSERT-FACTBOOK-URL#Govt]5 Government[/url]
[url=INSERT-FACTBOOK-URL#FRM]5.1 Foreign Relations and Military[/url]
[url=INSERT-FACTBOOK-URL#Econ]6 Economy[/url]
[url=INSERT-FACTBOOK-URL#Cult]7 Culture[/url]
[url=INSERT-FACTBOOK-URL#Infra]8 Infrastructure[/url]
[url=INSERT-FACTBOOK-URL#Energy]8.1 Energy[/url]
[/box][/floatleft]

[b][u][size=150][anchor=Ety]Etymology[/anchor][/b][/u][/size]

DESCRIBE ORIGIN OF NATION NAME

The standard way to refer to a citizen of NATION is as a "DEMONYM."

[b][u][size=150][anchor=Hist]History[/anchor][/b][/u][/size]

DESCRIBE HISTORY

[b][u][size=150][anchor=Geo]Geography[/anchor][/b][/u][/size]

DESCRIBE GEOGRAPHY

DESCRIBE CLIMATE

DESCRIBE ENVIRONMENT

INSERT MAP

[b][u][size=150][anchor=Demo]Demographics[/anchor][/b][/u][/size]

[b][u][anchor=Pop]Population[/anchor][/b][/u]
DESCRIBE POPULATION

[u][b][anchor=Lan]Language[/anchor][/b][/u]
DESCRIBE LANGUAGE

[u][b][anchor=Reli]Religion[/anchor][/b][/u]

DESCRIBE RELIGION

[u][b][anchor=Race]Race[/anchor][/b][/u]
DESCRIBE RACE

[u][b][anchor=City]Largest Cities[/anchor][/b][/u]
[table][tr][td]Rank[/td][td]City[/td][td]Metro area population[/td][td]State[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]1[/td][td]CITY#1[/td][td]CITY1POPULATION[/td][td]CITY1STATE[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]2[/td][td]CITY2[/td][td]CITY2POPULATION[/td][td]CITY2STATE[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]3[/td][td]CITY3[/td][td]CITY3POPULATION[/td][td]CITY3STATE[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]4[/td][td]CITY4[/td][td]CITY4POPULATION[/td][td]CITY4STATE[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]5[/td][td]CITY5[/td][td]CITY5POPULATION[/td][td]CITY5STATE[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]6[/td][td]CITY6[/td][td]CITY6POPULATION[/td][td]CITY6STATE[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]7[/td][td]CITY7[/td][td]CITY7POPULATION[/td][td]CITY7STATE[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]8[/td][td]CITY8[/td][td]CITY8POPULATION[/td][td]CITY8STATE[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]9[/td][td]CITY9[/td][td]CITY9POPULATION[/td][td]CITY9STATE[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]10[/td][td]CITY10[/td][td]CITY10POPULATION[/td][td]CITY10STATE[/td][/tr][/table]

[b][u][size=150][anchor=Govt]Government[/anchor][/b][/u][/size]

DESCRIBE GOVERNMENT

[b][u][anchor=FRM]Foreign Relations and Military[/anchor][/b][/u]

DESCRIBE DIPLOMACY

DESCRIBE MILITARY

[b][u][size=150][anchor=Econ]Economy[/anchor][/b][/u][/size]

[floatright][box]
[center][b][u]Economic Indicators[/b][/u][/center]
[b]Rank:[/b]
[b]Currency:[/b] 
[b]Fiscal Year:[/b] 
[hr]
[b]GDP (nominal):[/b] 
[b]GDP (nominal) per capita:[/b] 
[b]Labor Force:[/b] 
[b]Unemployment:[/b] 
[/floatright][/box]

DESCRIBE ECONOMY

[size=150][b][u][anchor=Cult]Culture[/anchor][/size][/b][/u]

DESCRIBE CULTURE

[size=150][b][u][anchor=Infra]Infrastructure[/anchor][/size][/b][/u]

DESCRIBE INFRASTRUCTURE

[b][u][anchor=Energy]Energy[/anchor][/b][/u]
DESCRIBE ENERGY


This guide may be used as a template to develop a constitution for your nation:

[center][b]PREAMBLE[/b][/center]
This is statement of the general aims and purposes of the nation. It should be brief and direct.

[center][b]ARTICLE I[/b][/center]
Name, flag, symbols, motto, desription, etc. Use clear and specific words that represent your nation.

[center][b]ARTICLE II[/b][/center]
Rights and obligation of citizen. You can divide the article in sections:
[center][b]Section I.[/b][i]Civil Rights[/i][/center]
[center][b]Section II.[/b][i]Political Freedoms[/i][/center]

[center][b]ARTICLE III[/b][/center]
Government and executive powers. You can divide the article in sections:
[center][b]Section I.[/b][i]Elections[/i][/center]
[center][b]Section II.[/b][i]Offices[/i][/center]

[center][b]ARTICLE IV[/b][/center]
Leglislature. You can divide the article in sections:
[center][b]Section I.[/b][i]Elections[/i][/center]
[center][b]Section II.[/b][i]Houses[/i][/center]

[center][b]ARTICLE V[/b][/center]
Amendments. State how and who may propose an amendment.

[center][b]ARTICLE VI[/b][/center]
Technical details necessary for carrying out stipulations in the constitution.


To have any sort of influence in NS, you should consider joining the World Assembly (WA). By being a member, your nation can endorse other nations, and also receive endorsements. You may also vote on the current WA resolution, shown by clicking on WORLD ASSEMBLY in the side-bar on NS. With two endorsements, you are allowed to submit proposals to the WA, which may be put up for a vote if they receive enough support. Even though you are allowed to create more than one nation, you are permitted to have only one nation in the WA at a time. This is important. Violating this rule could get you ejected from the WA permanently or, even worse, deleted permanently.

The World Assembly is divided into two main sections: The General Assembly and The Security Council.

  • The General Assembly focuses on international law that applies to all nations if passed. These normally concern shipping laws, military safety and other similar topics.

  • The Security Council focuses on one nation at a time. More often than not, these involve praising individual players and 'liberating' nations, allowing free entry. Whilst there is no battle system set in place by Max Barry, the Security Council's resolutions often relate to keeping the peace.

Delegates are elected by a region to serve as their representative at the World Assembly. Unlike ordinary members, they have the ability to approve newly-suggested resolutions. Delegates may also have administrative control over their region, though this is entirely dependent on the settings decided with the region's creation. Becoming a delegate can be an easy or difficult process, depending on the circumstances. To be elected, you need endorsements (a minimum of two) from the majority of members in your region. Whilst a region composed of you and your friends can guarantee you a spot, bigger regions with a vast collection of players are often much more challenging. Not only must you convince people to support your cause (and potentially get the old delegate demoted), you need to hold this position by respecting the demands of the region.

If you've decided to join a bigger region with little to no support from friends, here are a few tips to receive the endorsements needed:

  1. Patience is a god send. Don't expect to march in some random region and have endorsements thrown at you. You need to prove your place.

  2. Get friendly with some of the other nations, people who you can count on to support your ascent to power.

  3. If they have one, find out about the current delegate. Is he well liked? Does he listen to the nation's wishes? Does he abuse his power? Use this to your advantage...

  4. NationStates truly is a game of politics and roleplaying. To that end, feel free to blackmail and bribe your peers.

To vote for a resolution, click on its link within the World Assembly tab. You'll be taken to a page giving you the full details, including the category, resolution number and who proposed the resolution. Below that, you'll find a complete explanation, with the option of voting FOR or AGAINST.

To pass your own resolution, you need at least two endorsements from members of your region. Once you have those, you can propose your resolution to the World Assembly. However, before people are given the chance to vote on it, it needs to be approved by 6% of the World Assembly Regional Delegates. If it reaches the necessary number of approvals, it will be brought onto the voting floor, where all members of the WA can make your resolution law, or fail to pass it. When you decide to pass your own resolution, you have two choices. You can create a brand new one, or you can attempt to repeal an old one.

Creating a new resolution is basically one that does not currently exist. If you do so, make sure you look through all previous resolutions. There's nothing more embarrassing than attempting to introduce laws on toilet paper which already exist...

If you too are angered about the increase of tax on tea bags, then you have the chance to get things changed! You can vote to re-appeal a resolution, which will render the resolution in question null and void. This is normally when old laws conflict with new methods.

Tips on Passing a Resolution:

  1. Gather up support within your region. If it was proposed by someone, all the better!

  2. Spread the word on the forums. There is a section dedicated to the discussion of resolutions. You can make friends and get some critique on your law, which will let you make the edits necessary to give it an air of professionalism.

  3. Don't get too frustrated if your resolution doesn't make it to the voting floor. You can always try again.

You may have noticed it already, your nation and our region is given an influence automatically by the game. A nation's influence is a measure of how well-respected a nation is considered in its current region. Nations earn influence in a region the longer they remain there, and the more WA endorsements they have. When a nation leaves, though, its influence in that region will begin to decline. Although being boast-worthy in its own right, Influence serves an important gameplay purpose. The ability of WA Delegates to eject and ban nations from their region, and to password-protect it, is limited by their Influence. Delegates consume some of their Influence to exercise their power, so the more often he uses his influence, the more difficult it is for him to wield those powers in the future.

When a nation moves to a region, it has no influence within that region. Nations accrue influence in a region by remaining in the region, and by receiving endorsements from the region’s members. Being a member of the WA has no effect unless the nation gains endorsements, the more endorsements one gets, the more influence one will accrue.

The regional influence is equal to the sum of the national influence of all its members (updated each WA update), and is displayed as a ranking on a scale ranging from Backwater to Extremely High.

The national influence ranking (ranging from Minnow to Hermit) is determined by the ratio of national influence to total regional influence and the previous WA update.


NationStates itself does not have a warfare system, so there is no way to directly invade another nation. There is however a way for regions to invade each other. This involves moving WA nations to another region, and getting them to endorse a delegate of your choice, rather than the native delegate, allowing you to essentially take over the region. This only works in regions where the World Assembly delegate has executive authority, and regions where there is no founder.

Military gameplay like this is known broadly as raiding and defending. Most regions have a regional military that does operations like this, or protects against them. Detailed information can be found in this forum post.

Anyway, you can try Nationstates Battle Simulator, a roleplaying supplement and Battle Simulator for Nation States. It's designed to take input from the user for different factors of battle: Force Count, Morale, Technology, Training, Combat Experience, Logistics, and Intel, and simulate the outcome of a skirmish to be roleplayed out after. This allows for constructive roleplay, as the outcome of the battle isn't decided by story arc alone.

If you're more interested in role play, rather than gameplay military actions, you can find nation based military role play here.

Try also Cards Against NationStates, an implementation of the party game Cards Against Humanity, where people attempt to divine universal truths by finishing each other's sentences.

Warzones: Completely open regions that cannot be password-locked. Bans are temporary and last 24 hours.

Regional Message Board (RMB): The blurb on the front page of our region where you can talk to anyone here.

Puppets: Non-WA nations that are often used for the purposes of diplomacy, filling, and pure deception.

Telegrams (TG): A private messaging system that acts as emails for NS. Players often say "PM" or "TG me".

World Assembly (WA): The political body that passes laws on NS. Very nasty and very beginner-unfriendly.

World Assembly Member: Gives you the right to vote on WA laws. Click here and click "Apply to Join".

Word Assembly Delegate: The one member of the region that has the most number of WA Endorsements.

Rejected Realms (RR): The one place you go after being banned. You're safe in the RR (except from Admins).

Founder: The Nation that founds a region. Has the power to ban, eject, banject nations, change tags, suppress RMB posts, change the flag, construct and deconstruct embassies, and change the WFE.

Founderless Region: A region where the Founder has CTE'd, handing all administrative controls to the WA Delegate by default.

World Factbook Entry (WFE): An area that describes region, etc. At the top of any region screen.

Eject: The Act of ejecting a nation from another region. Can be done for free by a Founder, or at the cost of Influence for a delegate. Ejected nations arrive in the Rejected Relams immediately.

Ban: Prohibits a nation from entering a given region. Costs a WAD more influence than just ejection.

Banject: Ejecting and Banning someone at the same time, Costs the most influence.

Cease-to-exist (CTE): The deletion of a nation after a period of inactivity lasting 28 days. A nation can be 'refounded' by the owner by login in again.


Looking to expand your NS experience? Look no further. Here is a list of sites and tools to add more depth to the things you do on the NS site...

NOTE: All of these sites and utilities have been created by third parties and are not affiliated with the NationStates website!

Linkpostimage.org is a very simple, fast, reliable free image host. It's perfect for linking images to dispatches (see image bbcode tag). There is no registration or login, all you have to do is submit your picture.

LinkScrontch's Flag Designer generates Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) file format flags. To upload the flag on NationStates you must to convert it from SVG to raster image (JPG/PNG/GIF). You can do it with Linkonline-convert.com.

LinkFlagMaker is another tool to easily create flags without having to use complicated image editors, and includes many different flag elements and emblems. You can create a flag with six different base types and then add as many overlays as you like. You can save your work to a proprietary file format or export to a PNG or SVG file directly.

LinkNationStates Solved Issues, LinkNATIONSTATES ISSUES and LinkNSindex Issues Wiki attempt to solve NationStates issues (such sources are not perfectly reliable). You can also take a look Linkhere. CAUTION! BIG SPOILER!

LinkNSEconomy is an economic statistics calulator for NationStates. It allows nations to check the GDPs, budgets, exchange rates, and other statistics for their own and other nations, and to check the status of regions.

LinkNSTracker is a calculator based upon NSEconomy. NSTracker offered players a means by which to access national statistics for their nations based solely upon the NationStates API XML data stream.

LinkFractal World Generator is a tool to create a fictional world map.

Linkparliamentdiagram is a tool to generate arch-shaped parliament diagrams.

LinkNSDroid is an Android App to make using NationStates on your phone easier. It allows you to post to your region's RMB, send and receive TGs, and keep track of nations in your dossier.

NOTE: You are free to link and share this dispatch everywhere on Internet! If you copy this dispatch, or a part of it, don't forget to mention the sources below here...


Author: Freeja, founder of Dreamia
Credits: Coalition factbook administrator / Testlandia / Nullarni / The king of albion / Ponderosa

Freeja

Edited:

RawReport