Rifty's region guide!

by **Rifty** » Sun Sep 07, 2014 5:33 am

by **Rifty** » Sun Sep 07, 2014 5:33 am

I. Starting a region

The first thing we must take into account before clicking the "create region" button is why we are creating it to begin with. We do this for multiple reasons; from later on creating a regional community to minutes in the future when we name the region. Such things like:

- Any theme behind the region?
- Gameplay or Roleplay Oriented?
- Are you going to take part in R/D?
- Monarchy, Democracy, Dictatorship or nothing at all?

The answers you give to the above will determine a lot of the direction of your region. Be sure it is what you want!

B. Where to make the region

There are two ways in which you can create a region:

1. In the region that you currently reside it should show the current population around half-way down the page. Directly under there it'll have a box stating "Tired of life in @@REGION@@?" Once clicked it will direct you to another page. At the top there will be a link named "create." Again click here and you will be directed to yet another page. This is the one we will be creating the region from.

2. Go directly to this page

C. Filling out "create region" page

You must fill in all the boxes available on this page for your region to be created. The name may NEVER be changed so put some serious thought and consideration into whether or not the name shows the purpose of your region; this may be easily done by answering the questions under part A. The Wold Factbook entry may be edited at all times however something must be added in there for your region to be created.

I would also advise switching off Executive controls on the WA delegate at first to avoid being the victim of a raid.

Now you should have a region right in front of you. It'll be empty and cold - let's work on fixing that!

by **Rifty** » Sun Sep 07, 2014 5:33 am

II. Setting up the region

A. Accessing the Administration Page

Below the regional population count in your region around half-way down the page it'll have three separate links; Activity, Administration and History. Click the Administration link as this is where you will be doing all the setting up.

B. World Factbook Entry (WFE)

This is the first thing people read when they join you region so use it to give a strong feel for your region. Keep it short and snappy and only for information that I needed; don't ramble on or have paragraphs of text. Many regions use it to welcome people to their region and to link citizens to dispatches for the region. Use colors, bolding, Italics, underline and anything you feel would make it look better than it currently does.

Formatting can be found here on the BBCode page

I would also encourage all regions to keep a copy of all te formatting of their WFE in the occasion of an accidental removal of it by the founder or delegate and if an invasion occurred from raiders.

C. Flag

As I stated above surrounding the WFE; the flag is very much the same. It is viewed by everyone and a cool flag often interests new player to NationStates. Make sure not to steal a flag from another region/nation as it can get you in trouble with the moderators.

D. Password

There are ussualy two reasons for a region having a password on NationStates:

1. A group of people who do not want anyone in.
2. Fear of a raid

If you wish to keep out people you don't know, put a password up. If you wish to take away the chances of being raided then keep the delegate's executive controls off.

E. Executive controls for the WA Delegate

As I stated above you can keep this switched off to avoid a raid occurring or if you wish to maintain absolute control over your region. Turning these powers on give the WA delegate the ability to:

- To edit the World Fact book Entry
- Create and Close embassies
- Eject and Ban nations
- Edit the regional flag
- Suppression of Regional Message Board posts.
- The ban list.
- Regional Password

As the founder of your region you will maintain executive powers whether or not the delegate has them. You may switch the Delegates powers on and off at any point in time.

Keep in mind if you do allow the delegate to have executive powers then not only can the Delegate abuse his powers but the delegacy may be seized by a raider. It is probably best to wait a little while before switching on the powers so the delegate may have a endorsements to deter raids.

Keep in mind that if your nation ever ceases to exists due to inactivity or a deletion your nation by the moderators that the delegate will immediately receive executive controls.

F. Regional Tags

Regional tags are used to express the purpose and beliefs of your region to other regions and nations. Choosing the ones that show off your region is rather important. Once you have tagged yourself with a particular tag you can be found by accessing that tag via The tag cloud.

by **Rifty** » Sun Sep 07, 2014 5:34 am

III. Growing the Region

A. Purpose of having nations move to your region

The more nations that decide to move to your region - the more attention and activity it will have. As nation begin to move you will receive a diverse culture of people with different beliefs. Some regions are limited to certain groups though; such as:

- WA nations or non-WA nations
- Particular classifications
- Certain statistics on a nation
- Only particular people

This is entirely up to the founder of the region and is often done either through ejecting nations that don't fit into the parameters for access or a regional password. Regional growth is mostly done though recruitment telegrams to other nations around the NationStates world, Mergers between regions, Recruitment posts on recruiter friendly tagged regions a gameplay forum or people just noticing your region and moving there.

B. Recruitment Telegrams

You may recall when you first make a nation how you are flooded with recruitment telegrams - this is what we are talking about. Recruitment telegrams are meant to draw in people as well as explain your region to those reading. Type one up yourself and than you can go about sending it to other nations. There are three ways to send recruitment telegrams:

- Telegram stamps
- API
- Manually

Stamps allow you to send a mass recruitment telegram at the rate of one stamp per nation attempted to be reached. Stamps are purchasable on the NationStates Shop at the cost of $1 (USD) per 1000 telegram stamps. Stamps can be used to recruit by sending a mass recruitment telegram at a specific group. These groups are:

- tag:new
- tag:ejected
- tag:refound
- tag:all
- tag:WA
- tag:newdelegates
- tag:delegates

All these groups can be targeted for your recruitment campaigns however some are less successful than others. New, Refounds and Ejects are all reguar targets as they are the most likely to move. This is the most efficient way of obtaining citizens however it does cost you money.

Another way that many regions take part in is an API. This is a free alternative to the stamp system but does wield less of a return. It is free but sends a single recruitment telegram every 180 seconds - only 480 telegrams daily. A in depth explanation on how the API is used is found here.

The final way is manually. Collecting up to eight nations and sending them a telegram at once. This is slow and rather tedious however it is still an option many take up either in conjunction with stamps and an API or just as it's only means of recruitment through telegrams.

Keep in mind the return on the amount of people moving to your region through recruitment telegrams is close to 1%. In saying that sending out 1000 recruitment telegrams is likely to bring back only 10 nations if not less.

★★★ ALWAYS REMEMBER TO MARK EACH TELEGRAM AS RECRUITMENT ★★★

C. Recruiting on the RMB

Some regions are tagged to be "Recruiter Friendly." This means that they will allow you to post a recruitment post on their Regional Message Board once a day. You may only do this on regions marked "Recruiter Friendly" and Game Created Regions. This is a fairly poor way to recruit and often upsets the members of the community within that region by interrupting their Regional Message Board. Here is a full list of Game Created Regions:

- The Pacific
- The North Pacific
- The South Pacific
- The East Pacific
- The West Pacific
- The Rejected Realms
- Lazarus
- Balder
- Osiris
- Warzone Africa
- Warzone Airspace
- Warzone Asia
- Warzone Australia
- Warzone Europe
- Warzone Sandbox

A full list of regions you may recruit on the RMB can be found here.

★★★ YOU MAY ONLY RECRUIT ON THESE REGIONS ★★★

D. Gameplay Forums

Each region is allowed to post a single topic for their region in the Gameplay Forums. This is similar to a recruitment post on a Regional Message Board however it allows for more formatting and links. You can make it look really attractive to other nations. You are able to bump every 24 hours or add more to each topic whenever you so please. Some examples of a gameplay topics can be found here:

Spiritus
The Black Riders
The West Pacific

E. Mergers

This is a more complicated means of recruitment but is also rather affective if done correctly. This is were you offer to move citizens into your region; brining two regions into one. This often requires weeks of discussion and offering benefits to the founder and WA delegate of the other region but it can bring in large amounts of citizens that you did not need to recruit yourself!

by **Rifty** » Sun Sep 07, 2014 5:34 am

IV. Building a regional community

A. Communication inside the region

The two ways available to NationStates users to communicate on the site are the Regional Message board and Telegrams. Telegrams can be a useful tool for information for a select few within your region - however the main way the region will communicate is on the Regional Message board. It's a way to chat, debate and even sometimes argue.

Many regions put a topic for the Regional Message Board in their World Factbook Entry as somewhat of a conversation starter.

The founder or a WA Delegate with executive powers may suppress unwanted posts on the Regional Message Board.

B. Offsite Forums

As the Regional Message Board only allows for 10 posts to be visible at any given time it is rather hard to keep a history of things that have been discussed. This is why many regions resort to an Offsite forum.

★★★ KEEP IN MIND NATIONSTATES MODERATORS ARE NOT ABLE TO TAKE ACTION FOR PEOPLES BEHAVIOUR ON OFFSITE FORUMS ★★★

They can be used to run Activities for your region, Discuss serious and non-serious matters with a little more depth and sometimes even hold polls. Many large regions have these to counteract the amount of people able to post on the Regional Message Board. Most forums have a section for just chatting, Debates, Regional Government, Roleplay and fairly often an equivalent to Forum 7.

A list of offsite forum hosts:

- ProBoards
- FreeForums
- ZetaBoards

C. Instant Relay Chat

Instant Relay Chats are very common amongst the larger regions of NationStates as a means of communication. These are similar to the Regional Message Board however they allow for an instant relay of the messages - as the name implies. It removes the need for nations to continue to refresh to see if someone has posted on the Regional Message Board.

D. Embassies

You may request an embassy with whatever region you so desire, however it is not guaranteed you will be accepted by them all. Once an embassy is completed it shows somewhat of a tie between your two regions - but there is more. Since the addition to embassy posting, The founder or Executive WA Delegate may allow for either the entire population of embassies or just the executives (Or of course not at all) to post on your Regional Message Board. This is rather useful in creating stronger regional ties with your allies and can often increase how much use you Regional Message Board receives.

E. Keeping the community safe

The Founder nation must be kept alive to ensure that your region is protected. If the Founder nation ceases to exist for whatever reason, access to Regional Control will automatically revert to the WA Delegate. This leaves your region open to invasion by outside forces who can seize the Delegacy, change the World Factbook Entry, regional flag, and password settings, and eject your region's residents.

Because the Founder is so essential to a region's safety, some regions will share or transfer the ownership of the Founder nation from one player to another to ensure that an active player is always available to protect the region. If you choose to do so, be sure that the Founder nation is not a WA member. You should also refrain from using the Founder nation for activities besides regional administration, so that the risk of the Founder nation being warned or deleted is minimized.

If the Founder of your region has already ceased to exist, you have several options. One is to attempt to refound your region with another nation. In order to do this, the region must contain no nations during one of the two daily game updates. At that point, the region will cease to exist with all of its information, and you will be able to refound it by following the process for creating a brand new region. Be aware that other nations, including raiders, may attempt to refound the region before you in a process known as "region hawking". There is no way to prevent region hawking except to refound first, so you may wish to seek assistance from experienced players before pursuing this option.

Your second option is to remain as a Founderless region, but to form diplomatic and military ties with other regions who can help you in case of invasion. Usually, many regions and interregional organizations will be willing to discuss mutual defense agreements and similar arrangements to help keep your region safe.

by **Rifty** » Sun Sep 07, 2014 5:34 am

V. Activities for the region

A. Roleplays

Having regional Roleplays is a brilliant way to get your citizens involved as a community. If you have a theme to your region you can always tie it in but for the better part it is a decision made by the region. Work out what you wish to Roleplay about and make it up from there. Make it so it is only for you region by either adding it to the title of the forum post or putting it in your regions personal forums. Than link it in the WFE and BAM...an activity for all to join in on.

You need to make sure to outline all the rules and what Tech it is in prior to beginning to avoid confusion amongst the participants of the Roleplay.

B. R/D

R/D is short for "Raiding and Defending." R/D is practically the equivalent of war in other games as NationStates has no actual way to start a war other than Roleplay. Many regions tag themselves for which side they support as well:

Invader - Raider
Imperialist - Raider focused on gaining territory
Neutral - tends to keep off GP
Independent - Both raids and defends
Defender - Defender
Game player - Is more involved in R/D then the average region

An explanation of R/D can be found here!

C. Regional maps

Many regions have regional maps for reasons like aesthetics, assisting in Roleplay or showing nations foreign relations. These can be made at many map making sites and than handled by the founder, delegate or another person who is trusted to do that for the region.

D. Regional Government

Regional governments in NationStates are social contracts developed by the players of the region - that is, an agreement of rights and responsibilities by which each member chooses to be bound. Typically, regional governments will include a constitution to define citizenship, outline government offices or positions, and establish procedures for administering and maintaining the region.

There are as many ways of organizing a government as there are NationStates regions. A great part of the fun for many players comes from the challenge of creating a solution that works for their regional community.

In the broader NS world, many regions exchange embassies or form alliances through Foreign Affairs offices, host regional or interregional events for their citizens and visitors, publish regional newspapers, form military organizations to raid or defend other regions, vote on WA resolutions, and much, much more. The possibilities are limited only by your imagination and your willingness to invest time and effort into a project your community cares about.

E. Radio Stations

Regions may like to have a form of radio station where they may share their tastes in music and participate in community even when they're not on NationStates through listening to music. It comes with a IRC as well as the ability to create your own dedicated radio station to your region.

by **Rifty** » Sun Sep 07, 2014 5:34 am

Reserved

by **Rifty** » Sun Sep 07, 2014 5:35 am

Reserved

by **Cerillium** » Sun Sep 07, 2014 8:20 am

I can delete this after you edit so it isn't cluttering up your thread.

A suggestion: The formatting in the first post is rough on the eyes. You can nestle lists in lists to make it look more polished or use the tab feature.

General editing.

2B: we advise people to save a copy of their WFE coding in case NS has data loss or an unscrupulous person destroys the entry.

2D: Of course if you wish to keep out people you don't know put a password up however if you just do not wish to fear a raid occurring on your region than keep the delegate's executive controls off.

Overly wordy. How about:

If you wish to keep out people you don't know, put a password up. If you wish to take away the chances of being raided then keep the delegate's executive controls off.

2E:
Keep in mind if you do allow the delegate to have executive powers that [then] not only can the Delegate abuse his powers but the delegacy may be seized by a raider. It is probably best to wait a little while before switching on the powers so the delegate may have a endorsements to deter raids.

3B:
...nations. there are three ways to send recruitment telegrams:

3B:
Some regions also commit to a all WA recruitment telegram. [Confusing]

3B:
The finally way is manually.

3C:
A full list of regions you mad [?] do this to can be found here.

3D:
Each region is allowed to post a single topic for their region in the Gameplay Forums. This is similar to a recruitment post on a Regional Message Board however it allows for more formatting and links. ~~In saying that~~ You can make it look really attractive to other nations. You are able to bump or add more to each topic whenever you so please. Some examples of a gameplay topic[s] can be found here:

[I'd also alphabetize that list in order to avoid people ranting over who has top billing.]

3E:
This is a more complicated means of recruitment but is also rather affective if done correctly. This is were you offer ~~another region~~ to move ~~it's~~ another region's citizens into your region; bringing two regions into one. This often requires weeks of discussion and offering benefits to the founder and WA delegate of the other region but it can bring in large amounts of citizens that you ~~had not even had~~ did not have to recruit yourself!

4A:
Some posts on the Regional Message Board may not be wanted are free to be supressed by the founder or WA Delegate (If they have executive powers).

[A bit wordy. What about:]

The founder or a WA Delegate with executive powers may suppress unwanted posts on the Regional Message Board.

4B: [A bit of correction. Users can click on the "forum view" option (very bottom of the RMB on the far right) to see their region's RMB forum page by page.]

4E:
Because the Founder is so essential to a region's safety, some regions will share or transfer the ownership of the Founder nation from one player to another to ensure that an active player is always available to protect the region.

[I'd add a caveat to this that links to the OSRS entry and how a shared nation can affect player records pertaining to warnings etc]

5A:
Having regional Roleplays is a brilliant way to get your citizens involved as a community. If you have a theme to your region you can always tie it in but for the better part it is a decision made by the cohort [? Perhaps not the right word?]

5B: [stuff in box]
Neutral - tends to keep out off GP

by **Come Original** » Sun Sep 07, 2014 8:25 am

Wow.
Great guide Rifty!

by **Funkadelia** » Sun Sep 07, 2014 8:40 am

Isn't there already a guide?

by **Frattastan II** » Sun Sep 07, 2014 8:48 am

Funkadelia wrote:Isn't there already a guide?

Naivetry is pretty much retired from NationStates, and her guide isn't up to date on some new aspects of region-building (e.g., automatic recruitment).
If this one is good enough, it could work as a replacement.

by **Rifty** » Sun Sep 07, 2014 8:50 am

Funkadelia wrote:Isn't there already a guide?

About a month back Sedge was saying that if people would get worthwhile guides out than he'd consider stickying them in replacement of the current ones. Nephy took the military and me the regions. Here is the reigon one. Now it just needs to be reviewed.

by **Funkadelia** » Sun Sep 07, 2014 9:25 am

Frattastan II wrote:
Funkadelia wrote:Isn't there already a guide?

Naivetry is pretty much retired from NationStates, and her guide isn't up to date on some new aspects of region-building (e.g., automatic recruitment).
If this one is good enough, it could work as a replacement.

Ah, that makes sense.

by **Turmenista** » Sun Sep 07, 2014 9:28 am

Now I'm a delegate of a small but active region!

Thanks, Rifty! -cheesy thumbs up-

by **Rifty** » Sun Sep 07, 2014 3:30 pm

No problem mate

by **Star IV** » Sun Sep 07, 2014 3:42 pm

Besides a few spelling errors here and there, I think this is a fairly well built and useful guide. Its certainly better than one I'd construct.

by **Faschist Deutsch Reich** » Sun Sep 07, 2014 3:58 pm

This guide is looking very classy indeed! I will give you the Chuck Norris approval *thumbs up*.

I can't say you missed anything at all, there is a lot of ground covered and it seems to be helpful.

by **Rifty** » Sun Sep 07, 2014 6:12 pm

Well - Mods have decided it won't be pinned down to my past behaviour; can't say i blame them. However i willkeep building this and making it more informative and longer. I'll also keep posting content so it stays on the front page. Thank you all for the kind words of encouragement!

by **Nordic States and Territories** » Sun Sep 07, 2014 7:38 pm

Rifty wrote:Well - Mods have decided it won't be pinned down to my past behaviour; can't say i blame them. However i willkeep building this and making it more informative and longer. I'll also keep posting content so it stays on the front page. Thank you all for the kind words of encouragement!

Hmm. I know you've had troubles with the mods for various accounts of rule bending/breaking, but If they're letting you stay and the guide's good enough I don't see why they wouldn't sticky.

by **Rifty** » Sun Sep 07, 2014 9:47 pm

Well what i don't understand is they worry that i won't be able to keep it updated if i ever get deleted. WHich in allhonest makes no sense to me. Lets say i do get DoS - This region is currently filled with more and is updated further than the current guide. The current guide doesn't get updated as is.

It's like choosing an outdated guide that has the ability to be updated but never is over a guide that is up to date that may not always have the ability to be updated.

If they were going to say no - than Mall should have said no to unlocking my guide so i could grab the formatting for this guide; just pisses me off a little I put the effort into something that won't ever be recognised.

by **Shizensky** » Sun Sep 07, 2014 9:55 pm

Rifty wrote:just pisses me off a little I put the effort into something that won't ever be recognised.

Welcome to NationStates.

I don't remember which thread it was, but I'm pretty sure someone told Nephmir that he'd be responsible for updating any sticky'd guides. You're right that the old one isn't updated much, and that's why people have seen cause to write a new one. I think it's a good thing that the mods want to make sure any new guides can be updated by the OP to help remove some of the risk of new guides growing stale in time.

by **Rifty** » Sun Sep 07, 2014 10:40 pm

Shizensky wrote:
Rifty wrote:just pisses me off a little I put the effort into something that won't ever be recognised.

Welcome to NationStates.

I don't remember which thread it was, but I'm pretty sure someone told Nephmir that he'd be responsible for updating any sticky'd guides. You're right that the old one isn't updated much, and that's why people have seen cause to write a new one. I think it's a good thing that the mods want to make sure any new guides can be updated by the OP to help remove some of the risk of new guides growing stale in time.

I agree it is a good diea - but i do think that this guide even if i get deleted in a day - is more useful than the current one.

by **Rifty** » Sun Sep 07, 2014 10:42 pm

Rifty wrote:
Shizensky wrote:
Welcome to NationStates.

I don't remember which thread it was, but I'm pretty sure someone told Nephmir that he'd be responsible for updating any sticky'd guides. You're right that the old one isn't updated much, and that's why people have seen cause to write a new one. I think it's a good thing that the mods want to make sure any new guides can be updated by the OP to help remove some of the risk of new guides growing stale in time.

I agree it is a good diea - but i do think that this guide even if i get deleted in a day - is more useful than the current one.

Like if i got deleted - just transfer ownership to someone else

by **NoblePhnx** » Thu Sep 11, 2014 4:39 pm

In regards to regions tagged recruiter friendly long ago when I ventured out to see what recruiting was all about *shudders*, I found that more than a few that were tagged as such actually weren't or didn't want to be recruiter friendly anymore and just hadn't gotten around to changing it. I found that clearing it with the delegate or founder first was appreciated.

Rifty's region guide!

Rifty's region guide!

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