NationStates Jolt Archive

Hi.
I don't know if this is in the right place, but oh well here goes.
I have seen how people use these forums for war roleplay which is cool, but how does a nation figure out how big its army is, what equipment it has and if it has weapons of mass destruction?

Belongs in NS or II.

Everything is roleplayed; YOU decide what equipment you have, though try to be reasonably in line with your population; a nation of 5 million is unlikely to have a military of four [or six] million, for example. If you're really stuck, there's a calculator out there somewhere, I think.

Ignore anyone who claims there are specific populations you have to hit to have weapons of mass destruction. There aren't.

Ignore anyone who claims there are specific populations you have to hit to have weapons of mass destruction. There aren't.

Having said that, many players like to have a minimum of 500 million before you can have nuclear weapons. It's not uncommon, but it isn't mandatory.

I get told 100 million, even though I have several > 100 million nations with larger budgets than many current RL nuclear powers.

Having said that, many players like to have a minimum of 500 million before you can have nuclear weapons. It's not uncommon, but it isn't mandatory.

Ya, but that's just gratuitous newbie-hating. Nations can have nukes from the age they can use them properly in RP rather than throwing 10000000000 of them around. With some nations this is right away, with others never.

Might I suggest the "Percent system".


Depending on your style of government, you have a maximum upper "Percent" that can be in the armed forces, if you go over this percent, it may not be possible do to social and political factors, and if possible in certain gov't styles (democracy) you may have riot problems and such.



For a military dictatorship, standing armed forces could possibly fall anywhere between 5-10%, and in times of dire war, 15-20% at the most, but this will certainly strain the economy.


For a democracy, standing armed forces are seldom more than 1-2%, and in times of war, may often rise to 8-10%.


For a monarchy standing armed forces vary depending on the economic institutions involved, but typically range from 1-3% to perhaps as much as a military dictator would raise them to, depending on the style and will of the monarch.


For an anarchy, there is no standing army, only perhaps bands of militias, although in times of war, it would not be uncommon to see militias (semi-trained or perhaps even very well-trained) have their ranks filled with those who have guns and nothing else to do (but their training will be quite questionable). Thus an anarchy may see 10-15% of the populace taking guns and just shooting at any foreign soldiers they happen across. I call it the "Somalian situation" where the militias hated each other, and most people didn't get along, but when the Americans came by, they stopped fighting each other long enough to kill Americans.



That certainly doesn't cover every government or all the possible factors, but I hope it helps.

Remember, non-democratic governments can basically raise as many men into the army as they want, with only having to worry about economic consequences. Democracies have to consciously take into consideration, before anything is done, how the peasants will react. You may find a newly announced draft sparks massive riots.



If you have any specific questions, contact me over IM, I'll try to help you work it out.

Um, 5-10% standing includes the police in the 'military?' Else [and probably even with that] no, not without doing some unpleasant damage elsewhere [to public transport, road maintainance, that kinda thing].

Having said that, many players like to have a minimum of 500 million before you can have nuclear weapons. It's not uncommon, but it isn't mandatory.

Oh yes and thats an excellent rule right there...Because the United States had a population of 500 million when it invented the nuclear bomb. My advice Vaughn, do what ever you want with your military, within reason. If you want nukes you got em...

Um, 5-10% standing includes the police in the 'military?' Else [and probably even with that] no, not without doing some unpleasant damage elsewhere [to public transport, road maintainance, that kinda thing].



In my nation, there is basically no public transporation, we just have an excellent road system (We have to, we regularly drive tanks weighing over 100 tons on roads)


We are about 4.5-5% standing armed forces and internal security police. In times of the most dire emergency, we activate the Peoples Guard Army, about 40-50 million peasants who have basic knowledge in tactics and a few weeks training. We've never had any emergency large enough to warrant activating more than a few dozen regiments of the PGA yet (we've mobilized a few 100,000 from time to time, but mostly for disaster relief)

For a military dictatorship, standing armed forces could possibly fall anywhere between 5-10%, and in times of dire war, 15-20% at the most, but this will certainly strain the economy.

No nation on earth, not even North Korea, has more than 5% of its population in a peacetime standing army, and even that is debatable - many still consider North Korea to be in a state of war. That is the maximum, and it certainly entails servere economic strain.

Hi.
I don't know if this is in the right place, but oh well here goes.
I have seen how people use these forums for war roleplay which is cool, but how does a nation figure out how big its army is, what equipment it has and if it has weapons of mass destruction?

As a general rule, a more advanced military requires and can have less personnell. It is not hard to have up to 30-40% of your population fighting in a war using the likes of swords. However, to have a military involving tanks, motars, rifles, air support, armoured transport, air cavalry etc a nation needs a huge portion of its people manufacturing the equipments needed, in addition to food productions.

Typically, in times of peace, modern nations should only have about 1-2% of their population in active military duty, at the most. In times of war, it is possible and reasonable to have up to 4-6% of the population fighting.

In addition, you need to make allowances for logistics and maintenance. A light infantry unit may not require much support, but a mechanized division will be in serious trouble without technicians. The same goes for Air Force units and the Navy. The ground crew is often cruicial (and mostly overworked) in terms of aerial combat.

my view is simple:-

0%-5% trained milltary (includeing logistics, you know the realy army navy and airforce depending on Ecom)
5%-10% basic milltia (poorly trained depending on Ecom)
10%+ your population picking up a gun/stick/rocks/lead pipe/etc attacking the invaders (only ever happens if your invaded)

tho im never picky being such a size i am i could have a milltary at 0.5% and still be able to protect my self (tho...who knows even a 5 mill nation could kick the crud out of a 2.5 bill nation), my milltary is just high as i play Future tech and my "empire" is always fighting a pointless war with some NPC even if i dont RP it (only gets RPed if its something major otherwise its just background info)

Thank you all very much, I will spend the next few days planning my military, it is easier for me to keep records of it all if I am going to roleplay it. I migh also check some of those shops out to see prices of things to help me get an idea, if you have a shop you think I should check out, telegram my nation and I will check your shop out.

Under special circumstances [ie those caused by backstory] it's possible to have much higher percentages, but that generally depends on your pop not being human. It's hard to imagine, say, a hive of Tyranids only having 2% mobilising.

Under special circumstances [ie those caused by backstory] it's possible to have much higher percentages, but that generally depends on your pop not being human. It's hard to imagine, say, a hive of Tyranids only having 2% mobilising.

Or someone who's nation is supposed to be a mercenary unit. I've seen that one a few times before. (Although it does get weird after a while, when you end up with over a billion mercenaries... still, it'd be one hell of an army.

That's a little more complicated, given mercenaries still need food and ammo, and don't have the luxury The Great Devourer has of eating everything.

That's a little more complicated, given mercenaries still need food and ammo, and don't have the luxury The Great Devourer has of eating everything.

Depends on how hungry the mercs are....

(*Imagines 2 billion mercenaries eating trees*)

The whole RP thing is up to you, some 3bil nations have militarys of 250,000 or so troops, and thats great for RPing, easy to get supplies too, easy to keep track of etc, although with my main nation(nearly 2.2 bil pop) i have about 63million in the army(i could have more, thats about 3% of pop only).

Also, calculators ARE A GUIDE, different ones say different things etc etc, if the other nations you RP with agree, you could be a 10mil pop nation with 100million robot troops, thats what RP is about, use your imagination really(if someone else understands and wants to RP that also at least).

As a general rule, a more advanced military requires and can have less personnell. It is not hard to have up to 30-40% of your population fighting in a war using the likes of swords. However, to have a military involving tanks, motars, rifles, air support, armoured transport, air cavalry etc a nation needs a huge portion of its people manufacturing the equipments needed, in addition to food productions.

Rubbish. The "limit" isnt 5% because it costs too much to give them guns after that, it's 5% because even with that percentage or less so many people are out of work that you cant sustain your economy. If you have a look at Napoleonic or even Medieval battles, the percentage militaries are lower than they were in WWI or WWII.

40% in the military means all your able bodied men a lot of able bodied women. Who is going to run the country? Operate industry? Keep your economy going?

As for someone saying you need to be 500m to have nukes, I have never heard that. I usually here 100m, but regardless that is rubbish SO LONG as you RP it. I take the view that no nation starts with nukes, even if it could get them very quickly with a well RPed research program.

Rubbish. The "limit" isnt 5% because it costs too much to give them guns after that, it's 5% because even with that percentage or less so many people are out of work that you cant sustain your economy. If you have a look at Napoleonic or even Medieval battles, the percentage militaries are lower than they were in WWI or WWII.

40% in the military means all your able bodied men a lot of able bodied women. Who is going to run the country? Operate industry? Keep your economy going?


I was thinking of a period in a region where the rulers grab everyone, march them out into the battlefield, and make it back in a week or two. More specifically, its set in an agricultural based industry where people had nothing better to do in winters - Ancient China, Japan in Middleages, and a few other Asian places. I guess I should have made it clearer.