NationStates Jolt Archive


NationStates Guide v1.0! (Newbs Must Read!)

Jaxusism
18-10-2004, 00:30
I decided, after my guide to roleplaying Terrorism (http://forums2.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=366018) got stickied, to create a general roleplaying & NS guide.

1) Presenting Your Nation

Is your nation a five-star educational center for youth? Is your nation the military capital of the world? Is your nation a terrorist organization scattered around the world? This is all up to you. You could be the most dictator-ish dictator in the world, or you could hold a direct democracy where the people of your nation vote to make laws. Does your nation have several branches of government? Or is it just you and your posse?

Now, this also leads to who is your President? Does he have a cabinet? Does his cabinet have any power? Does he even listen to them when they speak?

Do you have a Congress-type system? Any Judicial Department? What do your citizens think of you? What are some of the laws in your nation that aren’t presented in issues?

Now, be realistic in all this. Don’t say, “I’m a rich idiot leader who makes everything strict but my citizens love me!!!”. If you’re a strict dictator, your citizens could hate you. And you could kill the ones who voice this publicly. You could be a great direct democracy, but you’d run into problems if you had a real direct democracy. Maybe your direct democracy consists of four hundred to five hundred elected officials, but at that number I think it would still be somewhat of a direct democracy.

Maybe you’re a small nation and you want to ignore the growth NS automatically gives you. Maybe you like that your nation is one small community.

This all goes into what your nation is really about. If your not going to voice these, then at least know them in your mind. It makes roleplaying a lot more easy and fun.

Bad :

I am dictatorship. Rawr.

Good :

The Grand Empire of Jaxusism is a nation with a so-called “President”. It is based on military. The Grand Council, basically a congress, was abolished by President Sherveen Mashayekhi because of passing only one important bill. The President does have a tight cabinet in which he uses often for advice or for ordering them what to do. Military is compulsory for boys and girls and they start military training at age 14-16, whether in strategy, combat, supplies, or anything else. We are not in the UN because of our nuclear policies and our military and education.

2) The United Nations

OK, as you see all the time in Real Life, nations are in the United Nations, but they don’t really follow the rules. They find loopholes to get around them. But in NationStates it is way more restricted. If your not following the United Nations resolutions, then you will be kicked off.

Now, joining the Untied Nations means your going to follow the resolutions and vote. But you should go beyond that. You should participate in the debates, form proposals, and propose anti-resolution proposals. Participating in the UN is the point of joining. Don’t just join and then forget that there is a forum there waiting for you to come and voice your opinions.

Now, proposing some crazy non-friendly proposal is idiotic. Don’t propose that the UN make slavery compulsory. Don’t propose that the UN Nations have to have their woman hide their hair. Propose things that are realistic to the UN. Not non-sense. Otherwise you ruin the UN for yourself and other people, and that just defeats the purpose.

Bad :

I propose we ban smokin’ everywhere.

Smoking Ban

-The nations of the world have been junked with the horrid cigarettes made. It is time that the UN take action. All United Nations nations should hereby ban all smoking in public or private places. Violators should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

((Of course, UN proposals should be in UN proposal format, but this is just an example of how not to be totally clueless))


3) Being An Ally

Many alliances are formed between nations, whether one-on-one alliances or a five-hundred nation alliance. Some take these alliances a bit too lightly. When an ally is in war, you should participate in that war! (if it isn’t a closed RP) You’re that nation’s ally. You’re that nation’s friend to turn to when its in trouble.

When forming an alliance, you should also have embassies in each other’s nations. You should have meetings and talks with them whether on the forums or through messenger.

You should also make many allies. The way to win a war is to have a good support group. And they don’t necessarily have to be big nations. Six newly created nations will probably defeat three older ones. Allies are needed in NationStates if you want to survive.

4) Military & Economy & “N00kZoRz”

OK, face it, young ones, you’re not going to be able to create your nations, come to the forums, and then declare you have a storefront selling the most advanced modern-tech tanks in the world. It takes time to develop. While you don’t need to sit down and create a thread saying “I’m developing a tank for my storefront!” you should make sure you think about statistics, fluff (description), and other things before you create it. Then you should give it development time, depending on what it is, one to two real days.

Now, buying equipment. You’re not going to create your nation, come onto the forums, declare you have a twenty-trillion dollar military budget, and buy a thousand Navy Carriers. You have to go to Third Geek (http://nseconomy.thirdgeek.com) or some other NationStates Calculator (links at end of thread) and find out your budget. Now, it says how much your spending in military, education, etc, but you don’t necessarily have to follow where they say you put it and how much you put into it. And buying things. A 99 million and bellow populated nation shouldn’t be buying weapons of mass destruction. Wait ‘til you are 100 million to even start your programs. Nukes are dangerous weapons and shouldn’t be in the hands of the newer nations. I don’t care that a three-hundred billion population nation is donating it to you! It is GODMOD on these forums and that is that. Period. Dot dot dot.

Now for military. Your military is going to be 2-5% of your nation most of the time. Some nations, if they prepare 2-4 years ahead, can say 10% if they prepare big-time. This, even with preparation, will be a huge blow to that nation’s economy unless they prepare maybe 10-20 years ahead. And remember, that 2-5% is very split. It would be generous to say 50% of your military is combat. But some nations do just for the sake that this is a game and we’re not here to logistic ourselves to death, although this is important. Half of your military, if not more, are drivers of the foods, ground commanders that don’t fight, airplane maintenance, ship maintenance, etc etc etc, its all vital to having a working military. So don’t think you can have 5% of your population be all fighting. It would be generous to say half of that.

Keep records of whatever you buy. I usually keep them in a notepad or Microsoft Word file. I also keep records of most of my major posts and what I sell. This helps keep you organized and realistic.

5) Time

One RL day = One NS year is how most people work it out. During times of war it slows dramatically so you can roleplay everything correctly. That’s all I have to say about Time.

6) Nuclear Attacks

Ok, first off, nukes should be a last resort no matter what. Now, the decision is when to ignore nuclear attacks and when to accept them, because they are very damaging.

If some nation decides that they don’t want to deal with a war with you and sends a nuclear attack at you, it should be ignore right there. But if someone uses it because they are about to loose a war and need a surefire way to keep you from destroying them, nuclear attacks are valid here. That’s the way nations work. A last resort to survive.

If a nation ignores a perfectly well-based and well-planned attack, then they are wrong. If they ignore a stupid idiot attack made for no reason, then the attacker is definitely wrong.

Bad :

Boom boom! I send my n00kz0rs at j00!

Good :

The Nation of Cheezey Stuffz has been loosing the war against the nation of Lollipops for the past five years. After mobilizing it’s nuclear weapons six months ago, Cheezey Stuffz has launched a nuclear warhead (>Details Here<) at Lollipop’s capital, Chewy Center City. This was a last resort attack by President Cheesey, and after being successful, Mr. Cheesey does not regret it…

7) Terrorism

I have created a guide to terrorism that was stickified. Right here : Guide To Roleplaying Terrorism v2.0 (http://forums2.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=366018)!

8) Roleplaying Itself

Ok, first, if your planning on invading / starting war, you need to have a valid reason. And, unless the other nation is an idiot godmodder, you need to get permission and work with them to get the war to go perfect and great. Reasons for war? Political ideals, recent actions, sanctions and ultimatums not met, etc etc etc.

Now, when you do invade, you have to post what your invading with. Then you have to post it going there. Then you have to post the actual attacks.

Make it as detailed as possible!!!

Bad :

I send my five tanks at you and they blow up your main government building.

Good :

Three UCAV “Hand of Jax” bombers, transported to Nation B four days ago by UCAV Carrier, have been sent across your lands and have set off bombs in strategic locations where we believe your governmental buildings to be.

Never post someone else’s casualties. Let them do it. But if they are being stupid or unfair, then work it out with them.

Make it even more detailed then my good example. RP the bombers getting into the planes, their launch, and the attack itself. Make it interesting!

Now remember, it takes time to get things to places, it doesn’t automatically go there.

Now, roleplaying events, propositions of bills, statements from your government, etc etc etc, are done the same way.

Bad :

The United States of Cheezey Stuffz declares that human rights are gone.

Good :

The United States of Cheezey Stuffz President has passed a bill created by Congress two days ago. The bill can be summarized as the following :

The Cheezey Rights Bill

1. No More Equal Opportunity – Due to many young children wasting space in the crowded schools of Cheezetopia, school is 5 dollars per day, and children have to come at least ten days a year.

2. High Tax – The government now takes 70% income tax due to debts to other nations. Any violators will be executed.

Etc etc etc…

Now, for Presidential statements :

Bad :

The Pres says no more drugs.

Good :

Jaxusism News Network

The President has banned drugs in the bill of “No More Pot” and has made a statement about it today…

My fellow citizens…, the President started, drugs have ruined some of our nation’s finest over the years, and, at the approval of the House of Representatives and the Senate, I have passed the “No More Pot” bill, banning all drugs whether in private places or in public. If found with possession of drugs, violators will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law in the Judicial System of our nation…

That’s all today for Jaxusism Morning News on JNN…

9) Godmoding

Here are examples…

I send my 500 n00ks at your capitalz!!!11

i sendz 2 billon solderz 2 inv4de j00 nat!on!!111

OMGZ I sendz-r 500 bajillion troopzerz at j00!!!1

Doing things that aren’t realistic, basically…

10) Space v Modern v Past

OK, I generally don’t RP wars (yes diplomatic stuff though) with future-tech nations, so I don’t have any tips for this so I’m gonna steal from the Godmoding thread.

The Space-Time Continuum and Godmoding
Just because your country zips around in flying saucers and comes from another planet doesn't mean it's invincible. See below:

Future-tech VS Present-tech
What's to stop an M-16, well-aimed, from knocking out all sorts of important bits of androids?

Future-tech VS Past-tech
Even a catapult could do some sort of damage. Ditto a crossbow bolt - they're still effective murder weapons today.

Present-tech VS Past-tech
If your castle's being shelled by tanks, try to tip some boiling oil over them. Crude, but effective.

Helpful Links :

Guide to Roleplaying Terrorism v2.0 (http://forums2.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=366018)
FYI : What Godmoding Is (http://forums2.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=274470)
Guide to NationStates (Euroslavia) (http://forums2.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=357975)
Proposed Code of Conduct for Storefronts (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=359981)
Want respect? Find out how to earn it. (http://forums2.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=353535&)
Role-playing in space, OOC suggestions (http://forums2.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=355350)
What Logistics Is. (http://forums2.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=275828)
Third Geek NationStates Calculator (http://nseconomy.thirdgeek.com)
Pipian NationStates Calculator (http://www.pipian.com/stuffforchat/gdpcalc.php?nation=)

Any suggestions, changes, ideas are appreciated. Thanks. And hope this was useful to you.
Phalanix
18-10-2004, 00:34
Jsut alittle ting for ya. When you're a past tech nation you realy don't want to piss off a future tech nation that feels like bombing someone. Adn for moderntech. Just launch a few anti-satalite missles at the future tech nation that has ships above you.

Ya and nice job again man
Jaxus
18-10-2004, 00:34
Jsut alittle ting for ya. When you're a past tech nation you realy don't want to piss off a future tech nation that feels like bombing someone. Adn for moderntech. Just launch a few anti-satalite missles at the future tech nation that has ships above you.

Ya and nice job again man

Thanks Phalanix!
Jaxusism
18-10-2004, 00:40
Yargh that was me! Sorry.

The mods said they would look it over and see if they will stickify it. Anyone support that decision? (Just to rally up a crowd :p )
Jaxusism
18-10-2004, 02:55
Added two links to the guide. :)
Sarzonia
18-10-2004, 21:43
This has my full support.

Thanks for the links to threads I created, BTW. :)
Jaxusism
18-10-2004, 21:53
This has my full support.

Thanks for the links to threads I created, BTW. :)

Thanks. :) I think it should be stickied but they refused it because it restricted roleplaying or something.

Oh well. Ill just link it in my sig and to anyone who needs it.
Exetonia Minor
18-10-2004, 21:54
nice job man, direct and to the point... just keep bumping it :P
Leslieton
18-10-2004, 22:28
Hey thanks:) i am rather new to NS and so that helped ALOT!!!! Thanks!!! :fluffle:
Jaxusism
18-10-2004, 22:31
Hey thanks:) i am rather new to NS and so that helped ALOT!!!! Thanks!!! :fluffle:

No problem!!! I helped a newbie! I helped a newbie! YAY!!!

Shows how useful this thread is... *cough*sticky*cough*
Jaxusism
19-10-2004, 03:31
Bump for the sake of the newbies.
Jaxusism
19-10-2004, 03:34
Anyone think this should be stickied? Say so so that the mods will see that it should be!!! :D
Visitors2
19-10-2004, 03:36
Are you sure bout the one ns year equal 1 rl day thing.
Cause if so, I could build up a huge billion man army in a couple of weeks.
Jaxusism
19-10-2004, 03:36
Are you sure bout the one ns year equal 1 rl day thing.
Cause if so, I could build up a huge billion man army in a couple of weeks.

Um... your population is still determined by nationstates.net... :rolleyes:
Phalanix
19-10-2004, 03:37
Well it's jsut the standard thing. Anyone can go by what time they want as long as it is reasonable
Jaxusism
19-10-2004, 03:38
Well it's jsut the standard thing. Anyone can go by what time they want as long as it is reasonable

Yeah, a year a minute wont mean your gonna be building a nuke every 5 minutes. :p
Visitors2
19-10-2004, 04:15
Yeah, a year a minute wont mean your gonna be building a nuke every 5 minutes. :p
Just one problem with your nuke rule.
Not everyone follows it. Particularly:
1. The part about research: a nation that has a pop of 20 million could start research it. But it doesn't mean they are going to get it.
2. The part about 3 billion pop nation giving a new a nuke. You call this godmoding, but I fail to see that. I think it is up to the individual nations involved in the newbies rps to decide that. Nothing wrong with a large nation giving a new guy nukes. Though its going to eat up part of the new guys budget.
The fact some of the newer nations are unstable and might have nukes is part of the fun and interest of the game. Why would you want a perfect world where only stable regimes have nukes? That's not very realistic. but if you want to rp only with big nations having nukes that is up to you. Don't go saying its an absolute rule cause its not.
Vastiva
19-10-2004, 07:24
Just one problem with your nuke rule.
Not everyone follows it. Particularly:
1. The part about research: a nation that has a pop of 20 million could start research it. But it doesn't mean they are going to get it.
2. The part about 3 billion pop nation giving a new a nuke. You call this godmoding, but I fail to see that. I think it is up to the individual nations involved in the newbies rps to decide that. Nothing wrong with a large nation giving a new guy nukes. Though its going to eat up part of the new guys budget.
The fact some of the newer nations are unstable and might have nukes is part of the fun and interest of the game. Why would you want a perfect world where only stable regimes have nukes? That's not very realistic. but if you want to rp only with big nations having nukes that is up to you. Don't go saying its an absolute rule cause its not.

True.

Vastiva started with nuclear weapons. Hasn't used one yet, but we did start with them.

As the Mods have said - if you can RP it, you can have it.

The balance of that is - if you are a greedy twit, most won't play with you.
Chardonay
19-10-2004, 08:33
Really, the basic rules of NS are:

1. Be reasonable.

2. Think before acting.

3. Be detailed (whatever reality you may be playing in, make it consistent and explain how you can do whatever you do)

4. Don't be annoying

5. If you must fight wars or have a storefront, learn a little about how they are fought first. Massed charges went out in the American Civil War (well, WWII, really, but people are slow learners), and there are reasons no fighters fly faster than mach 3 and no tanks are over 70 tons with guns no bigger than 125mm... There are REASONS! TG me if you want to know why.

6. For the love of whatever you hold dear to your heart, use a spellchecker and learn as much grammar as you can. I understand that many players are young, and many others have English as a second language, and still others have serious problems spelling (I'm dysgraphic, and my spellcheck caught 4 mistakes in this short post), but please for the sanity of all players, use spellcheckers and use proper grammar. It makes it so much nicer to read.
Der Angst
19-10-2004, 09:45
Sooo...

OK, as you see all the time in Real Life, nations are in the United Nations, but they don’t really follow the rules. They find loopholes to get around them. But in NationStates it is way more restricted. If your not following the United Nations resolutions, then you will be kicked off.Emphasis mine

WRONG. Do me a favour, observe the game FAQ:

The UN is your chance to mold the rest of the world to your vision, by voting for resolutions you like and scuttling the rest. However, it's a double-edged sword, because your nation will also be affected by any resolutions that pass. (You can't just obey the resolutions you like and ignore the rest, like real nations do.)Emphasis still mine

You will not be kicked out of the UN for not following UN resolutions. You will automatically follow UN resolutions, until you leave the UN.

Although it is object to discuss how issue decisions opposing UN resolutions affect this. Is this not the case, you follow UN decisions (Hence, why UN members are fucked due to the International Sea Law or whatwasit resolution).

When an ally is in war, you should participate in that war!That isn't etiquette, that is an individual decision, roleplay. Never heard of backstabbing, betrayal and whatnot?

You should also make many allies.Many useless ones instead of a few trustworthy? Good idea...

Allies are needed in NationStates if you want to survive.
Only if you RP. Aggressively. And if you're actually willing to accept warmongering on the Drum Gods level. And even then, not absolutely necessary.

you should make sure you think about statistics, fluff (description), and other things before you create it.Why exactly are statistics necessary? To have something to throw at your fellow RPers 'I AM BIGGER!'? If you're not a tech buff, statistics will necessarily be ludicrous, and arbitrarily made up. So, until constructing stuff is your actual hobby (Or job), so you're actually having fun with it: No. Hate to bring it to you, but since NS is cooperative roleplay, statistics are useless, inevitably leading to bitchfests. Just say 'It works' and use reasonable timeframes/ effects/ whatever. Reasonable translating as fair.

You have to go to Third Geek or some other NationStates Calculator (links at end of thread) and find out your budget.Calculators are ludicrous. All of them. Whenever I see someone use a calculator, I can watch them arbitrarily using them their OMG HUGE military budgets, ignoring their complete lack of education (Only imported crap), public transport (Railroads, airports to transport stuff? Bah. Beattracks must be enough!), administrative spending (Yay, no government? Cool. Anarchy, zero organisation. Have fun with armed biker gangs), healthcare (W00T! Like Napoleon, we're going to lose 50% of our forces by way of diseases, rather than guns!) and so on. However, since all this stats are given by the calcs (and thus, the game), they prove only one thing: NS is a satirical game, and shouldn't be taken all that serious. Neither should the NS based calculators (Reminds me, why are government concentration percentages automatically translated into budget percentages? Another ludicrous point. Correcting this might solve... A lot.).

A 99 million and bellow populated nation shouldn’t be buying weapons of mass destruction. Wait ‘til you are 100 million to even start your programs.Oh, so Iraq didn't try it? North Korea? Cuba's sovjet missile bases didn't exist? France didn't build it's nukes with a 50 mio population, without foreign help? Yeah, right.

Nukes are dangerous weapons and shouldn’t be in the hands of the newer nations. I don’t care that a three-hundred billion population nation is donating it to you! It is GODMOD on these forums and that is that. Period. Dot dot dot.Ok, so what have we...?

1. Arrogance of age. Read it. Slowly: Finding. NationStates. Earlier. Than. Someone. Else. Doesn't. Make. You. In. Any. Way. Better. Than. Said. Younger. Nation.

2. That is wonderful that you don't care. Unfortunately, it doesn't change the fact that it is there.

3. So, legitimately operating to protect oneself from outside threads (And there are many in NS) is an OMFG GODMODE? Not really, no. In fact, it isn't. Now, you might treat it as one, deciding to OMG IGNORE said nation, but that is your individual action, it is in no way representing the entirety of this forums or their users. Especially not me. Neither does it give you the right to flame/ flamebait/ ridicule/ whatever said new player, as it is done so very, very often by petty, arrogant retards believing that them finding NS earlier makes them morally superior. or something like that.

Your military is going to be 2-5% of your nation most of the time. Some nations, if they prepare 2-4 years ahead, can say 10% if they prepare big-time.Hummm... IRL, modern, western nations are usually up to 0.5%... As a maximum. Granted, NS is a somewhat more dangerous place, but still... Everything over 1% peacetime is... Ludicrous.

One RL day = One NS year is how most people work it out. During times of war it slows dramatically so you can roleplay everything correctly. That’s all I have to say about Time.I wont even get started on the fluid time issue. Just meaning to say, many, many people don't do 1 day/ year. Personally, I have no desire of living in the year 2500. As far as I am concerned, ludicrous population growth is far preferable to ludicrous timeflow (And then there is the issue about me RPing this nation at 1/10 NS stat population..).

Now, when you do invade, you have to post what your invading with.Amusingly enough, I manage it without page- long lists of equipment...

Three UCAV “Hand of Jax” bombers, transported to Nation B four days ago by UCAV Carrier, have been sent across your lands and have set off bombs in strategic locations where we believe your governmental buildings to be.Amusingly enough, it isn't. This is, in fact, a godmode, since it didn't give the opposing side a chance to, well, intercept them.

And yes, I know a couple others have made a couple of the points I made. Just reiterating.

http://www.huetten-fuehrer.de/content/images/appelt01.jpg
~ Ingo Appelt, Minister for ooc affairs and random bitching, DA
GMC Military Arms
19-10-2004, 09:54
Must agree with Der Angst; too much of what's stated here as rules is actually not such at all; pop limitations for WMDs, day=year and so on are all individual decisions players have made with regard to their style of roleplay, not hard and fast rules. This is far too limiting and biased towards the calc / numbers style of roleplay to make sticky, I'm afraid.
The Imperial Navy
19-10-2004, 09:58
Ah, good old Der Angst. Always there to tear a threads major points to pieces.

And he made several good points there-I think you need to consider re-doing this thread with some ammendments.
Newbia
19-10-2004, 14:22
Well this has been a quite interesting read.

Even though I now have to put a hatchet to my military budget. (Even though I hardly ever use it anyway. (Did I just say "Even though" twice? (Bugger)))

I eagerly await the next version so that I have to throw all my work thruu the window and start over. ;)

- King Newbhart IX -
- King of Newbia

PS: Sorry, I could not resist posting.
Sephrioth
19-10-2004, 15:51
thanks
Hogsweat
19-10-2004, 16:05
Maybe you can take some of this in Sephrioth.. its all good info, but as GMC stated some of it is individual decision, not II-wide known things such as ignoring.
Notquiteaplace
19-10-2004, 16:53
Must agree with Der Angst; too much of what's stated here as rules is actually not such at all; pop limitations for WMDs, day=year and so on are all individual decisions players have made with regard to their style of roleplay, not hard and fast rules. This is far too limiting and biased towards the calc / numbers style of roleplay to make sticky, I'm afraid.

I agree, calcs are generally horribly innacurate anyway. They rate GDP's as too low, as they are all based on the laughable assumption that its not possible to have a GDP higher than the USA. Id assume all level 13 scores for freedom economy etc are the highest in RL. Ie powerhouse/world benchmark. Higher means you exceed RL. This is sci fi.

Also GDP calcs work on the flawed assumption that bigger Income tax is the only, or main determinant of government spending.

And finnaly they forget that as tax rates rise, the government has to purchase more for their people, or grant more welfare. Welfare may not be a priorty, it may be the last thing on your mind, b ut at 100% income tax, you need either to give them some for food and shelter, or have a separate government department for this.

They do give a nice rough guide to how well your economy is doing though, and are fun for economists like me.

Plus if RPed well any nation could have nukes. There is no set age limit for when you can, though testing and building them is going to eat at the military budget of a small nation. A 20 mil country with a very strong economy could probably have nukes, but wouldnt have much else in the way of defence. lol. BUT it could anyway.

That, and what Der Angst said aside.... Its got a some very good parts in. Id just consider revising it a bit.
Sarzonia
19-10-2004, 17:36
I think if the calculators are not used as the be-all and end-all for figuring someone's budget out, they can be useful as a guide. I'd have a problem if someone ONLY used the calculators and didn't allow for some wiggle room. Technically, if someone orders from one of my storefronts, I probably should check to see if they've made any other purchases before I accept or decline their order, but I usually just check to see if the money's in their budget or could be in their budget.

I don't think the results from Pipian or ThirdGeek or any other calcs were intended as gospel; they were intended as a guide to see if a country could afford to buy a certain level of weapons. The idea behind that was for nations to check their budgets and then realistically RP the gradual increase of their military based on various factors. Putting a restriction where someone MUST use the calculators or MUST slavishly follow the economy rating the game gives you is another restriction on free-form RP that makes it less free.
The Generic Lands
19-10-2004, 19:24
A good guide, although some things I disagree with:

1) Nukes - I will accept them made at any time so long as they are realistic and well RPed. I remember once a brand new nation building their first nuke as a 20mt ICBM of death. This isnt acceptable (and shame on the 'experienced' player who tried to persuade everyone otherwise), but making a small 20 - 50kt bomb / SCUD-type missile and buillding up is fine for a new nation.

2) Military - whilst it is expected that you can have a 5 - 10% military, the US currently has a 0.30% or so, and during the world wars the military level was still only about 2%.
Visitors2
19-10-2004, 20:56
True.

Vastiva started with nuclear weapons. Hasn't used one yet, but we did start with them.

As the Mods have said - if you can RP it, you can have it.

The balance of that is - if you are a greedy twit, most won't play with you.
very true.
Jaxusism
25-10-2004, 01:49
Bumpity thumpity bump...
Terra of Sol
06-12-2004, 23:56
Has this thread been stickied yet? if it hasn't it needs to be!!!!!!!!!!
:mp5: :mp5: :sniper: :sniper:
Some of the rules may be a little... overly controlish? But it is still a big help to newbs like me :p
The doom chicken
30-03-2005, 02:26
hey, i'm new hear and were should i describe my nation and were can i get a map of the world? with borders? thanks
Evil Woody Thoughts
30-03-2005, 03:07
I agree, calcs are generally horribly innacurate anyway. They rate GDP's as too low, as they are all based on the laughable assumption that its not possible to have a GDP higher than the USA. Id assume all level 13 scores for freedom economy etc are the highest in RL. Ie powerhouse/world benchmark. Higher means you exceed RL. This is sci fi.

http://www.worldfactsandfigures.com/gdp_country_desc.php

Thirdgeek gives many, many nations a higher per capita GDP than the United States (though I must admit I have yet to see one higher than Luxembourg). My GDP is approximately $44,800 per capita (http://nseconomy.thirdgeek.com/nseconomy.php?nation=Evil+Woody+Thoughts), or slightly under 20% better than the United States. I've seen nations with $47+ K per capita GDP's before.

Also GDP calcs work on the flawed assumption that bigger Income tax is the only, or main determinant of government spending.

Even zero-income tax nations still collect some income from what I've seen from Thirdgeek et al., and that income as a percentage of GDP looks like it could easily come from a sales tax.

And finnaly they forget that as tax rates rise, the government has to purchase more for their people, or grant more welfare. Welfare may not be a priorty, it may be the last thing on your mind, b ut at 100% income tax, you need either to give them some for food and shelter, or have a separate government department for this.

True...to a point. Technically the government could tax everyone at 100% and pour all of it into the military, but bread riots would quickly ensue. RPing the bread riots would be fun :)

Unnfortunately, if AMF just declared war on you, the last thing you want to do is RP widespread bread riots.

They do give a nice rough guide to how well your economy is doing though, and are fun for economists like me.

Plus if RPed well any nation could have nukes. There is no set age limit for when you can, though testing and building them is going to eat at the military budget of a small nation. A 20 mil country with a very strong economy could probably have nukes, but wouldnt have much else in the way of defence. lol. BUT it could anyway.

That, and what Der Angst said aside.... Its got a some very good parts in. Id just consider revising it a bit.

Agreed. :)