Global Economics and Trade Help Desk and Q&A

[Common Territories]

I'd like to ask a certain question, in my FT storefront, many people have requested that I add surface and orbital defenses. Surface defenses are likened to RL defense systems, while orbital defenses are defense systems in orbit around a planet to defend it against would be space invaders. I am currently working on it, going to military defense websites for research. I should be asking what exactly am I supposed to show for these kinds of products? Which types of surface and orbital defenses should I show to my customers?

Im not too familiar with FT happenings, so I cannot help you too much. To make up for it, I suggest visiting here if you need additional help.

My suggestion is following a system I use. Make things you would use for your country. If you'd use it, others may like it too right? If you want to present the product as best as possible, I would work on a product page. The format of such a page should be: Any art/pictures you can provide, statistics the product has, and an in-depth write-up of the product that covers everything possible for your product. The write up, even if it has to be long, should answer anyone's question - or at least that should be your goal in the write-up. I hope this helps as im not very sure myself on FT tech, so I don't know too much about defending from space invaders, but I hope someone in the link can help and I hope what advice I gave here may help.

[Empire of Assur]

I'm now roleplaying with a underdeveloped nation in need of money to finance its rearmament, so I figured out that I could privatize national companies and resources. The problem is I don't know how to conduct a privatization process. Can anyone give me a hand? How do I figure out the prices and profits for example?

[Common Territories]

I'm now roleplaying with a underdeveloped nation in need of money to finance its rearmament, so I figured out that I could privatize national companies and resources. The problem is I don't know how to conduct a privatization process. Can anyone give me a hand? How do I figure out the prices and profits for example?

Well if you want a company to go private, maybe you could sell it to a hefty investor/his family or whatever the likes. Anyways. To figure out prices, I suggest looking around both NS and RL products to get a good idea of what the standard price range is. Im not sure what you're selling, so I can't really go too deep, but if you look hard enough on google, you'll find prices for just about anything. If it's already being sold on NS it may take a good deep digging to find it. But I suggest comparing similar products for your first time selling products - look up NS storefronts that sell it or RL market prices.

[Empire of Assur]

I'm now roleplaying with a underdeveloped nation in need of money to finance its rearmament, so I figured out that I could privatize national companies and resources. The problem is I don't know how to conduct a privatization process. Can anyone give me a hand? How do I figure out the prices and profits for example?

Well if you want a company to go private, maybe you could sell it to a hefty investor/his family or whatever the likes. Anyways. To figure out prices, I suggest looking around both NS and RL products to get a good idea of what the standard price range is. Im not sure what you're selling, so I can't really go too deep, but if you look hard enough on google, you'll find prices for just about anything. If it's already being sold on NS it may take a good deep digging to find it. But I suggest comparing similar products for your first time selling products - look up NS storefronts that sell it or RL market prices.

I want to privatize my nation's natural resources (gas, iron, etc.), as we can't exploit them efficiently and we don't have resources to invest in its exploitation, and maybe some services as telecommunications (cel phone companies, internet, etc.), and transports (roads, rails, airports, ports)

[Yohannes]

My advice (coming from bad personal experience and from seeing some old friends doing this years back) is for you not to overthink about every single exact details out there (involving your would be created fictional business)

The general rule of thumb is this:

1. It would be best to avoid superlatives as doing so will easily disgruntled people who generally don't care about the Global Economics & Trade [GE&T] forum at all. Remember, these are the people who you may want to court/be in good side with in the future, as this forum (GE&T) is a forum of sellers (vast majority people having their own threads or storefronts) and not a forum of buyers. What are superlatives? They are things that I have done myself in the past (and I still cringe when I look back then from now), and these are words such as:

[company] is the [largest/biggest/most influential/best/highest quality/world premier/other things that you claim about your company's superior top of the NationStates world status] of [insert the industry here]

2. Start out by creating the logo of your fictional company. You can do this by taking 'inspiration' (aka copying somewhat and editing here and there using image editing programmes available for free from the internet such as GIMP, Inkscape, etc.) from real life logos at first for easy trial.

3. Start out writing about the introduction of your company. It's up to you whether you want to write this in a boring way or write this in a unique (unconventional) way. Don't overthink it, you just have to go through this third step, and it [the introduction] can always be edited out/changed later on.

4. From here, as Common Territories explained, Google will be your friend (and a bit of peeking around to check whether there are any other well written storefronts that you can look at). I am a bit unsure about the latter though, as for me personally I don't mind people copying my writing and formatting style or whatever. But other people would probably dislike people copying their format/writing style or other things so maybe it's best for you to telegram them first? I don't know

The problem is I don't know how to conduct a privatization process. Can anyone give me a hand? How do I figure out the prices and profits for example?

If you are a curious person (and want to learn about it yourself instead of hearing from the maybe biased opinion of other players of this game), you can always Google that sentence 'privatization process'. There should be some good real life examples, from me searching that up in New Zealand alone it brings quite the list of past state owned enterprises of the NZ government that were changed to be more professionally profit driven and oriented businesses

regarding prices and profits don't worry about it. Worrying too much about things like these in the introductory stage of storefront creation (where we are now with your question) can seuck the living fun out of that very process itself (fantasising about running a fictional business in this wonderful writing forum)

[Empire of Assur]

ThAnks for the tips Yohannes, I'm already researching it, just wanted to see if people here could give some more info. It seems no one else before tried to privatize their economy here in NS, at least I couldn't find anything when I searched the forums

[Yohannes]

It seems no one else before tried to privatize their economy here in NS, at least I couldn't find anything when I searched the forums

'No one else before tried to privatize their economy here in NS' would be a bit of a sweeping statement to make. I am sure there were three or five players in the past who were interested with things like that and actually did pursue such a storyline for their nation

Not too many people in NationStates do bother with in depth stuff like that, and that is fine because if people are not having fun doing stuff like that then it's understandable that they are not interested with pursuing such a storyline for their nation

Btw what country are you from in real life? That way I can maybe help u with Google search and see if there are some good examples from your real life country (of past privatisation) that I can show u

[Common Territories]

It seems no one else before tried to privatize their economy here in NS, at least I couldn't find anything when I searched the forums

'No one else before tried to privatize their economy here in NS' would be a bit of a sweeping statement to make. I am sure there were three or five players in the past who were interested with things like that and actually did pursue such a storyline for their nation

Not too many people in NationStates do bother with in depth stuff like that, and that is fine because if people are not having fun doing stuff like that then it's understandable that they are not interested with pursuing such a storyline for their nation

Btw what country are you from in real life? That way I can maybe help u with Google search and see if there are some good examples from your real life country (of past privatisation) that I can show u

Yohannes is right. Not many people either know such detailed things on economic science or have not bothered to go so deep. Where you'll see it most is in factbooks/wikis where such information is usually stored. My nation included has a majority private sector - it just takes RPs and factbooking/wiki logging to get that information down.

[Kolintha]

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=345029

Is there any way I could improve the formatting on my storefront?

[Costa Aluria]

https://forum.nationstates.net/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=345029

Is there any way I could improve the formatting on my storefront?

Well, for one, your graphics don't play well with the dark scheme. I know I am a minority who uses the dark scheme, but I find it really difficult to continue reading a thread when the main graphics seem to be screaming noise at me. Whenever I format my graphics and I know I will be using dark lettering, I try to go with a neutral grey so it works with either the dark or default scheme.

Edit: Also, I am unsure what program you might be using to create your logo-ish gtaphics, but if it has the ability to "stroke" your font (add a small border around the outside of the words), i find that helps with that problem as well. I try to add around 2px of contrasting "stroke" color that will go unnoticed on the default theme and make your text stand out on dark.

[Kolintha]

https://forum.nationstates.net/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=345029

Is there any way I could improve the formatting on my storefront?

Well, for one, your graphics don't play well with the dark scheme. I know I am a minority who uses the dark scheme, but I find it really difficult to continue reading a thread when the main graphics seem to be screaming noise at me. Whenever I format my graphics and I know I will be using dark lettering, I try to go with a neutral grey so it works with either the dark or default scheme.

I was nervous about that actually. Thank you for giving me a heads up.

Edit: I have adapted the colour scheme from black to a more neutral grey, and I quite like it, but I'm eager to hear other people's thoughts.

[Yohannes]

I was nervous about that actually. Thank you for giving me a heads up.

Edit: I have adapted the colour scheme from black to a more neutral grey, and I quite like it, but I'm eager to hear other people's thoughts.

Costa Aluria was right when he said the Dark theme can really throw your storefront off balance (from what you thought it would look in front of other people). I am experiencing that same problem with my two storefront threads myself... and so far I am still not knowledgeable enough of how to fix the problems (perhaps Costa Aluria and the other friendly experienced thread formatting players can help us both step by step haha)

Would you like to hear some friendly opinions for other things beside formatting or just strictly formatting related opinions?

If the former, I can say some stuff that are overall not really that important but can really connect the storyline of your Escari Royal Armaments fictional business with that of your nation more (in the eyes of some storytellers/writers/roleplayers). If only the latter, I would say I feel that the combination of the two images (the one below the 'Land Systems' with the one representing the 'PN-10 Zhu Yron' design) you have below your first post is a bit off... I feel that the PN-10 Zhu Yron picture is too large if compared with the grey picture above it (though this is how I feel and you can always brush me off)

Also, I would recommend against centre aligning your paragraphs (edit: the ones summarising about your designs). I don't know... it's just a bit off too (again in my opinion so you can always tell me 'whatever Yohannes, I like it that way' haha). Also, you didn't put any lines between your paragraphs (specifically the ones below)

The PN-10 Zhu Yron is the perfect solution for a nation that needs the best in defence but can't afford highly expensive foreign vehicles, filled to the brim with experimental technology. The PN-10 is no super tank, but it promises excellent reliability and consistency in the killing of enemy vehicles, on par with modern Western designs. What's more, the PN-10 is equipped with an unmanned turret, and the tank is operated entirely from the hull. This allows for a number of positive things; firstly, the crew are isolated from the ammunition, located in the tank's bustle autoloader. Secondly, the crew is also no longer anywhere near as likely to be hit by enemy fire, and hence crew survivability is highly increased. Thirdly, in the event the turret is hit, the crew will be able to safely evacuate and the tank will be back in the fight as soon as it can be recovered and it's turret replaced.
Imperial military doctrine promotes the use of the tank as the primary killer of other tanks, and to allow the tank to compete with it's likely foes in Escar, Kolinthanese engineers implemented a 152mm gun into the design. This gives the gun unrivalled penetration on the modern battlefield, and this penetration is supported by a range of high quality optics and ammunition. While the Imperial Army only Armour Piercing Fin Stablized Discarding Sabot munitions for it's Zhu Yron's, a variety of other munitions are available too, including HEAT, conventional HE and Smoke shells. DPR for these munitions will be provided upon purchase of a PN-10.
This vehicle is available now for 5.2 Million NSD.

The IK-09 is the among the newest and most advanced infantry carriers in the Imperial arsenal. It is armed with a powerful 40mm autocannon, offering unrivalled infantry fire support capabilities, as well as allowing infantry to possess a powerful anti-vehicle weapon. The Zhotek will not bow to any old 30mm gun, and it also enjoys good protection against mines, thanks to specialized seating and a V-shaped hull, that spreads the force of a blast outwards, improving the survivability of both the vehicle's crew and the men it carries.
In addition, the IK-09 is armed with two highly accurate Kreokiin heavy anti-tank missiles, allowing to engage a wide array of threats even without proper armoured support, though it is recommended that buyers use their vehicles with the utmost care, making sure to involve them in proper combined arms operations. A universal fighting machine is one thing the IK-09 isn't.
If you're looking for a vehicle that will bring your troops just the right mix of FIREPOWER, PROTECTION, MOBILITY and RELIABILITY, while still remaining cost effective, look no further than the IK-09, available for a price of 3.8 Million NSD.

I am sure there would probably be some other things that I have missed (I am just skim reading lazily at the moment so don't feel like reading much haha)... though I am sure the other players regularly browsing this thread can give you other points from their opinions

Formatting wise, the friendly II Roleplay Mentor Maltropia (who are assigned to look after the Global Economics & Trade forum) is someone who have specialised in formatting related stuff since 2012. And it is his job to support people with questions, so I would advice for you to nag him with a telegram or two

Fortunately also (just in case Maltropia is busy and you want more opinions than you can found here or from him) there are a lot of other players who are equally just as good as Maltropia - or even better in comparison to him - out there around the NationStates forums; from the Diplomacy (in game related storytelling/roleplaying) forums, Gameplay (the proper NationStates gameplay) forum and even as far as the Forum 7/F7 forum

I would say if you want to hear more opinions about the formatting of your storefront, you can contact (by telegram) the following account owners (beside Maltropia): Crystal Spires, Gristol-Serkonos, Kyrusia, [edit2: fixed the name of this homeboi for u] Liberty and Alderney, New Azura and Trelatche. These players are a few of the many good formatters that have dabbled in fictional business storefront making in the past (or at present)

Good luck and have fun with fantasising about your fictional Escari Royal Armaments business storyline (for your nation)

[Stormwrath]

Kyrusia had a storefront once?

[Yohannes]

Kyrusia had a storefront once?

I am sure if you telegram the owner of that account, he probably can answer your question a lot better than I can (after all... only he would know the posting histories of his accounts)

There were two that struck me (for their formatting qualities) back then (we were in 2011-2012 a part of an IRC group of friends hanging out at the NSSanctuary channel and were easily updated with things relating to our fictional storytelling stuff)

This one back in 2011: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=103278

and this one under the Black Century International account: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=137081

I am not sure also whether he wanted that account (BCI) made public... so I might say a little bit too much here (haha)

Kyrusia also was a customer of VMK (cause I asked him - more like nagged him a couple of times to 'buy stoof to bump the thread plz') and he was involved in other storefront threads as well. He can correct me if I am wrong here but I vaguely recall (not bothering to check here cause I can't be bothered/am too lazy atm haha) that he used to help the player behind the account of Jenrak with the running of the Xzaerom storefront (it was an information technology kind of storefront) as well. I am not 100 per cent sure whether this was Kyrusia or whether it was New Azura (or someone else tho)

But this was ages ago. So yeah, stuff of the past (not important except for those who are interested with random historical/old stuff)

[Stormwrath]

Kyrusia had a storefront once?

I am sure if you telegram the owner of that account, he probably can answer your question a lot better than I can (after all... only he would know the posting histories of his accounts)

There were two that struck me (for their formatting qualities) back then (we were in 2011-2012 a part of an IRC group of friends hanging out at the NSSanctuary channel and were easily updated with things relating to our fictional storytelling stuff)

This one back in 2011: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=103278

and this one under the Black Century International account: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=137081

I am not sure also whether he wanted that account (BCI) made public... so I might say a little bit too much here (haha)

Kyrusia also was a customer of VMK (cause I asked him - more like nagged him a couple of times to 'buy stoof to bump the thread plz') and he was involved in other storefront threads as well. He can correct me if I am wrong here but I vaguely recall (not bothering to check here cause I can't be bothered/am too lazy atm haha) that he used to help the player behind the account of Jenrak with the running of the Xzaerom storefront (it was an information technology kind of storefront) as well. I am not 100 per cent sure whether this was Kyrusia or whether it was New Azura (or someone else tho)

But this was ages ago. So yeah, stuff of the past (not important except for those who are interested with random historical/old stuff)

That was back in his MT days, correct?

[Kolintha]

-snip-

1. I would be very much interested in hearing some other feedback beyond formatting. The main reason I asked for formatting specifically is because I wanted to avoid asking something too vague.

2. I see what you mean about the image. I'll see what I can do with that.

3. Noted with the paragraphs.

4. I shall make sure to contact a few of these people if I have further questions. Thank you again.

[Lolomz]

How To Calculate DPR To My Products ?

[Nachmere]

I usually do:

Firearms and small items: price per unit X 100,000

Vehicles: Price per unit X 10,000 or 1,000

Ships: price per unit X 100

[Common Territories]

I usually do:

Firearms and small items: price per unit X 100,000

Vehicles: Price per unit X 10,000 or 1,000

Ships: price per unit X 100

That's the best way. But naturally it's up to you how much of said product should be the standard amount. So if you wanted say 200,000 small arms item to be the price, go for it. But Nach suggested a good standard.

[Lolomz]

Nachmere And C.T . That Was Helpful For Me

[Lolomz]

I usually do:

Firearms and small items: price per unit X 100,000

Vehicles: Price per unit X 10,000 or 1,000

Ships: price per unit X 100

And Aircrafts ?

[Nachmere]

i usually do 1,000. but i play with full gameplay stats, dont forget.

[Common Territories]

i usually do 1,000. but i play with full gameplay stats, dont forget.

1,000 sound about right depending on the aircraft. I'd google some aircraft to see how many have been produced to get a good idea of the range you'd clock up to. Because some fighters have had a couple thousand made I believe and helicopers have easily the same range probably.

[Crookfur]

I usually do:

Firearms and small items: price per unit X 100,000

Vehicles: Price per unit X 10,000 or 1,000

Ships: price per unit X 100

And Aircrafts ?

An alt method is just to charge a percentage/royalty fee on each example of your stuff they produce. Now this works best (for your own "accounting") if people are willing to commit to a set number or at least rough guess of how much they might need. Of course generally speaking a large percentage of those people who buy DPRs are doing so because they simply can't be arsed working out how many of items X, Y and Z they might need.
Equally if they don't want to or can't commit to a number or hazard a guess you cna still use the license fee system and just hand wave that someone some where in your office and thier's is keeping a record and paying the fees.

IIRC DPRs are generally vastly over priced on NS and i was certainly guilty of this myself, generally you want to avoid charging anything more than a fee that would make home production more than 10-15% more expensive than the outright purchase price of a reasonable number of examples amd you might want to actually amke thigns cheaper(CT's suggestion of looking up rough production numbers for stuff is a reasonable start).

I kind of hand waved my own doubts by adding in that the price came with the perosnnel and/or most of the machine tooling needed to get production under way.

On the other hand just charge whatever you like as long as people pay it (which with the silly money in NS stats and nobody really bothering with budgeting or indeed mentioning who the rights were actually being granted to (The strate to hand out to thier own contractors willy nill? Or to a named organisation?) tends to be literally whatever you want and directly linked to how pretty your pcitures are.

[Nachmere]

do you guys think it is time to reformat my store a little? i feel like the product list is getting too long for the picture format.