NationStates Jolt Archive

'Kay. I'm creating my new factbook, and i have a question.

I first noticed this when i was studying United Earthling's factbook, so i could get the hang of writing one.
He has a whole list of stats in there, ranging from the amount of paved runways to amount of internet users to how many people in his country can flush their toilets. How does he get detailed stats like that? It's impossible to make them all up...So, how can you do it?

This thread? Not here to be ignored.

I'm willing to bet extrapolation.

Bumping after 4 minutes, not a good idea.

It is entirely possible and plausable that he made those stats up on the spot, to my knowledge there isn't an NS calculator which provides that sort of info, so my money is on his having made them up.

I mean hell, for example, all you need to do is work out your population, work out the technology level of your nation (up to you) then work out the amount of technophobes you want in your nation (again up to you) then you've got an estimate.

Or of course you could use the good old fashion time tested metheod of coming up with a number on the spot, say... 3 Gopanians drive cars, unlikely but it's info.

Anyways a Factbook doesn't need to be that long, if it is then all the more kudos to you man.

K. :confused:

Bumping after 4 minutes, not a good idea.

It is entirely possible and plausable that he made those stats up on the spot, to my knowledge there isn't an NS calculator which provides that sort of info, so my money is on his having made them up.

Remember, a random number percent of all statistics figure in a cliché internet truism!

Anyway, yeah, just make them up, based on your economy level and population (for instance, if you have an imploded economy, you won't have a 999/1000 television to citizen ratio). As far as I know, almost all stats are professional-looking inventions.

yeah all the detailed stats liek that are liekly just "extrapolations" from the CIA factbook entry of some random coutnry

Remember, a random number percent of all statistics figure in a cliché internet truism!

Anyway, yeah, just make them up, based on your economy level and population (for instance, if you have an imploded economy, you won't have a 999/1000 television to citizen ratio). As far as I know, almost all stats are professional-looking inventions.

If you had a 'fair' or 'good' economy, how would that go down?

A rough outline of the differerent economic, political, and civil rankings can be found on the NS Wiki (http://ns.goobergunch.net/wiki/index.php/Scales). There is also a more detailed thread (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=392208) on UN rankings and scales of freedoms. Link was taken from the aforementioned NS Wiki article.

Anyways, if I recall correctly, the United States would be ranked economically somewhere between 'Thriving' and 'Powerhouse'. This means that a nation of roughly three hundred million people, with a relatively high land-labor ratio [low population density] and a good endowment of natural resources would look something like the contemporary United States.

Going from there, it all depends on your nation. I'd say as your economic ranking goes down, so should overall measures of affluence. These can be direct measures of wealth, such as the number of cars or TVs per capita, or indirect measures such as access to healthcare or schooling. There are some problems with all such measures, however -- a tiny country with a huge population crammed into a single metropolis will probably have few cars per capita, even though it may have a 'Frightening' economy. A nation with a planned 'Powerhouse' economy geared towards heavy industry will probably have a low TV per Capita ratio, since consumer products like TVs will not be produced in large quantities, if at all.

This is where the role-played aspects of your nation come into play.

As the other folk have said, most of the stats in NS factbooks are just rough approximations, or are made up on the spot. To be honest, instead of specific numbers I'd suggest using general descriptions. For example, Instead of writing that your nation has '152,760 kilometers of highway', say that your nation 'has a well-developed intercity highway system linking major cities' o somesuch. The last gives more information, since those 152,760 kilometers of highway might actually be dirt roads going to nowhere; something similar happened to invading German armies in the Soviet Union, whose commanders complained that their maps labeled the aforementioned dirt roads as paved highways.

On another note, bumping more than once or twice a day is kind of excessive. International Incidents has a good post rate, so a thread doesn't have to be on the front page to be seen.

A rough outline of the differerent economic, political, and civil rankings can be found on the NS Wiki (http://ns.goobergunch.net/wiki/index.php/Scales). There is also a more detailed thread (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=392208) on UN rankings and scales of freedoms. Link was taken from the aforementioned NS Wiki article.

Anyways, if I recall correctly, the United States would be ranked economically somewhere between 'Thriving' and 'Powerhouse'. This means that a nation of roughly three hundred million people, with a relatively high land-labor ratio [low population density] and a good endowment of natural resources would look something like the contemporary United States.

Going from there, it all depends on your nation. I'd say as your economic ranking goes down, so should overall measures of affluence. These can be direct measures of wealth, such as the number of cars or TVs per capita, or indirect measures such as access to healthcare or schooling. There are some problems with all such measures, however -- a tiny country with a huge population crammed into a single metropolis will probably have few cars per capita, even though it may have a 'Frightening' economy. A nation with a planned 'Powerhouse' economy geared towards heavy industry will probably have a low TV per Capita ratio, since consumer products like TVs will not be produced in large quantities, if at all.

This is where the role-played aspects of your nation come into play.

As the other folk have said, most of the stats in NS factbooks are just rough approximations, or are made up on the spot. To be honest, instead of specific numbers I'd suggest using general descriptions. For example, Instead of writing that your nation has '152,760 kilometers of highway', say that your nation 'has a well-developed intercity highway system linking major cities' o somesuch. The last gives more information, since those 152,760 kilometers of highway might actually be dirt roads going to nowhere; something similar happened to invading German armies in the Soviet Union, whose commanders complained that their maps labeled the aforementioned dirt roads as paved highways.

On another note, bumping more than once or twice a day is kind of excessive. International Incidents has a good post rate, so a thread doesn't have to be on the front page to be seen.

Thanks.