Global Economics and Trade Help Desk and Q&A

[Gyllenemark]

I've been wanting to make my own designs, something like Tippercommon's to Virana. E.G F-31 Wyvern. But how can I make a good design with GIMP?

[Tippercommon]

I've been wanting to make my own designs, something like Tippercommon's to Virana. E.G F-31 Wyvern. But how can I make a good design with GIMP?

Took me four years to get to this level.

[Pharthan]

I've been wanting to make my own designs, something like Tippercommon's to Virana. E.G F-31 Wyvern. But how can I make a good design with GIMP?

Patience, pretty much. I started out with a LOT of referencing other designs and real life stuff. One of the big things that will really help you is always trying to add more detail. Not just pieces and components, but shading makes a huge difference. I still haven't gotten down lighting. Once you start adding proper lighting, you can remove some of that annoying detail, too.

Patience, though. Don't expect to whip up something in a few minutes. The best designs take hours, especially if you're new to the program.

Also, reusable parts (aka, copy paste). Especially for ships and whatnot. Very handy.

Took me four years to get to this level.

It's stuff like this that make all of us "lesser" artists hate you, Tipp.

Or love you. Not sure which.

[Stahn]

I've been wanting to make my own designs, something like Tippercommon's to Virana. E.G F-31 Wyvern. But how can I make a good design with GIMP?

Took me four years to get to this level.

That is amazing. This must be the best line art I have seen on NS. This is on a whole other level.

[Common Territories]

I've been wanting to make my own designs, something like Tippercommon's to Virana. E.G F-31 Wyvern. But how can I make a good design with GIMP?

Took me four years to get to this level.

That's because all you do is WW2 planes you try hard SOB you.

Lol. Seriously though, this is still very excellent shit Tipper - a true testament to what hard work looks like.

[Gyllenemark]

I've been wanting to make my own designs, something like Tippercommon's to Virana. E.G F-31 Wyvern. But how can I make a good design with GIMP?

Took me four years to get to this level.

Holy fucking shit. That is the most...most...

*faints*

Cause of death: After viewing the above image, the nation had fainted due to the pure awesomeness in the picture.

I've been wanting to make my own designs, something like Tippercommon's to Virana. E.G F-31 Wyvern. But how can I make a good design with GIMP?

Patience, pretty much. I started out with a LOT of referencing other designs and real life stuff. One of the big things that will really help you is always trying to add more detail. Not just pieces and components, but shading makes a huge difference. I still haven't gotten down lighting. Once you start adding proper lighting, you can remove some of that annoying detail, too.

Patience, though. Don't expect to whip up something in a few minutes. The best designs take hours, especially if you're new to the program.

Also, reusable parts (aka, copy paste). Especially for ships and whatnot. Very handy.

Took me four years to get to this level.

It's stuff like this that make all of us "lesser" artists hate you, Tipp.

Or love you. Not sure which.

I'll be viewing tuts, but for now use some shitty pictures of JAS-39s, A400Ms and CFA-44 Nosferatus I do realize it takes hours. And also, is there GIMP download for Win8?

[Virana]

Tippercommon now contrast the comments you got in this thread with those on that other forum for the same plane.

Also, I think tipper made a guide on shading and drawing airplanes on GIMP using vector paths. I don't have a link but that might be useful for a lot of you to get accommodated to drawing things on GIMP.

I'll be viewing tuts, but for now use some shitty pictures of JAS-39s, A400Ms and CFA-44 Nosferatus I do realize it takes hours. And also, is there GIMP download for Win8?

The latest stable version of GIMP 2.8 works fine on Windows 8. Just visit their downloads page to get the program.

(speaking of which, the CFA-44 was heavily based on the PAK FA. unfortunately they didn't put as much unique design into it as they had with previous super fighters. Was a fun plane to use for AC6 though, if a bit overpowered [/offtopic])

[Trowulani Knights]

Anyone interested to have joint cooperation in field of Bio-engineering?

[Gyllenemark]

Tippercommon now contrast the comments you got in this thread with those on that other forum for the same plane.

Also, I think tipper made a guide on shading and drawing airplanes on GIMP using vector paths. I don't have a link but that might be useful for a lot of you to get accommodated to drawing things on GIMP.

I'll be viewing tuts, but for now use some shitty pictures of JAS-39s, A400Ms and CFA-44 Nosferatus I do realize it takes hours. And also, is there GIMP download for Win8?

The latest stable version of GIMP 2.8 works fine on Windows 8. Just visit their downloads page to get the program.

(speaking of which, the CFA-44 was heavily based on the PAK FA. unfortunately they didn't put as much unique design into it as they had with previous super fighters. Was a fun plane to use for AC6 though, if a bit overpowered [/offtopic])

I finished the PSP version when I was young. The Fenrir was pretty good, so was the ADF Assault Horizon had better flight. Also, thanks Virana, gonna install.

[Neo Maharlika]

Good day! I'm new here and I'm sorry if I'm a bit lost. Looking at your posts and all the things situated here is about about role-playing and I haven't gotten a grasp on things. I really want to participate and be productive but I may seem to be dumbfounded. Would any of you guys help me or point me to a place where I can understand these things so that I could help, participate and contribute? Thank you and more power!

[Tippercommon]

Tippercommon now contrast the comments you got in this thread with those on that other forum for the same plane.

Main difference is those guys get paid to draw shit and I just sit here loading up GIMP when I get bored lol

[Huda]

It's Gyllenemark

Alright, so I've installed GIMP 2.8

I'm frickin' intimidated. Help me, call 911.

[The Decent Dictator]

Is using international prostitution as an economic resource permitted?

[Lamoni]

Is using international prostitution as an economic resource permitted?

You would need to keep everything PG-13 friendly, but other than that... maybe?

[Neu Engollon]

Is using international prostitution as an economic resource permitted?

You would need to keep everything PG-13 friendly, but other than that... maybe?

If you mean IC-wise, claiming it is as part of your GDP and economic progress, I don't know who's going to really stop you. Unless it's a well regulated trade, though, how would it even be measured as part of your growth?

As far as making such a thing a storefront, pretty sure it's been done by a few folks on here. Even with storefronts going as far as selling sex slaves, and no one seems to have been slapped down yet as far as I can tell, as long as they keep it non-graphic and hold off on descriptions that push the PG-13 boundaries, as Lamoni mentioned.

Personally, I wish this could be one place on the web where we don't have to deal with all that, but if Max allows it, there's not much lil' ol' me and folks like me can do about it. I'll just ignore your Lust-For-Sale storefront as I have all the other similar ones.

[Sperland]

How deos the trading work?

[Tippercommon]

How would it even be measured as part of your growth?

Prostitution would be considered part of the services sector which is 80% of the US's GDP, 70% of Germany's, 80% of the UK's, etc.

[Tippercommon]

How deos the trading work?

1. On the forums: If you want to specifically trade with certain companies from other nations, post in their storefronts. You can buy their products, use the storefront as an avenue to set up more involved bilateral trade which you can put in your factbook, etc. There's no real system to roleplaying here. The majority of roleplay on GE&T are letters/communiques. Here's some guidelines on how not to be an annoying customer.
2. Telegram: If you want to establish a bilateral trade relationship with a specific nation, you can telegram asking them if they would like to export to you and import certain commodities from you. Be cordial.
3. Regional: I like to focus on trade agreements between nations in my own region (primarily because Pardes is closed world). You can telegram your region-mates as I suggested above. I'd suggest having your region set up an IRC channel that you all can use so you can talk about trade and regional politics more efficiently than through the RMB or a TG.

[Neu Engollon]

How would it even be measured as part of your growth?

Prostitution would be considered part of the services sector which is 80% of the US's GDP, 70% of Germany's, 80% of the UK's, etc.

While the storefront might be regulated for this player in their NS nation, the RL analogy you just made makes no sense. Prostitution, but for one state in the US (Nevada), is not legal and any successful transactions made are not recorded or tracked, so it would be hard to figure out how much of the actual GDP they make up of those nations with it being unregulated commerce. Pretty sure there's no place in the UK where prostitution is legal and in Germany I am not sure, but think it's the same situation. Back to NS, I guess it would depend on whether prostitution was legal in any such player's nation, or if they were considering it black market commerce.

[Sperland]

How deos the trading work?

1. On the forums: If you want to specifically trade with certain companies from other nations, post in their storefronts. You can buy their products, use the storefront as an avenue to set up more involved bilateral trade which you can put in your factbook, etc. There's no real system to roleplaying here. The majority of roleplay on GE&T are letters/communiques. Here's some guidelines on how not to be an annoying customer.
2. Telegram: If you want to establish a bilateral trade relationship with a specific nation, you can telegram asking them if they would like to export to you and import certain commodities from you. Be cordial.
3. Regional: I like to focus on trade agreements between nations in my own region (primarily because Pardes is closed world). You can telegram your region-mates as I suggested above. I'd suggest having your region set up an IRC channel that you all can use so you can talk about trade and regional politics more efficiently than through the RMB or a TG.

I still don't get it. Do you use a real currency?

[Maltropia]

I still don't get it. Do you use a real currency?

Nope. Everything here - and in the rest of the Diplomacy forums - is roleplay.

[Lamoni]

Remember when you created your nation, and it asked what you wanted to name your currency? That is basically what you are using, though like how the US Dollar is king in RL international trade, NS has the Nationstates Standard Dollar, which your currency is converted into for international trade in NS.

Nations all have a budget for their currency (either based upon an economic calculator, or an RPed budget), and the "funds" for purchases comes from that budget. No real life currency is used for the process (no paying people real life Money). What would constitute a realistic budget for your nation is guided to an extent by what other RPres are willing to accept, and there are plenty of people here who will help you make a realistic budget for your nation, if you want.

Really, it sounds a lot more confusing than it really is.

[Sperland]

Remember when you created your nation, and it asked what you wanted to name your currency? That is basically what you are using, though like how the US Dollar is king in RL international trade, NS has the Nationstates Standard Dollar, which your currency is converted into for international trade in NS.

Nations all have a budget for their currency (either based upon an economic calculator, or an RPed budget), and the "funds" for purchases comes from that budget. No real life currency is used for the process (no paying people real life Money). What would constitute a realistic budget for your nation is guided to an extent by what other RPres are willing to accept, and there are plenty of people here who will help you make a realistic budget for your nation, if you want.

Really, it sounds a lot more confusing than it really is.

Thanks.

[Lamoni]

You're welcome.

[Astholm]

One question, about pricing.
If you're selling something, in my case, either cars or commercial vehicles, how should exchange rates and inflation affect prices, so I can achieve a semi-realistic price?

I know a $60,000 car costs £40,267GBP ($1USD = £0.67GBP) but if you add on VAT it becomes £48,320 (40,267 + 20%).

How can I get the prices right?