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How To Build A Region

PostPosted: Fri Sep 11, 2015 12:59 am
by The Ambis
I. Introduction
A. Before You Begin > > >

II. How To Create A Region
A. Accessing the Region Creation Page > > >
B. Choosing a Region Name > > >
C. World Factbook Entry > > >
D. Governor Access to Regional Control > > >
E. Delegate Access to Regional Control > > >
F. Regional Password > > >
G. Create the Region! > > >

III. Regional Development and Community
A. What Powers Do I Have? > > >
B. What Are Regional Officers? > > >
C. A Regional Flag > > >
D. What are Tags? > > >
E. Region Wide Telegrams, Welcome Telegrams, Pinned Dispatches, and Polls > > >
F. The Regional Message Board > > >
G. What Are Embassies and Do I Want Them? > > >
H. A Regional Map > > >
I. The Activity Feed > > >
J. Do I Need An Offsite Forum? > > >
K. Internet Relay Chat > > >
L. Discord > > >

IV. Keeping Your Region Safe
A. Should The WA Delegate Be Executive? > > >
B. Should I Have Regional Officers? > > >
C. Should My Region Have A Password? > > >
D. What Is An Endorsement Cap? > > >
E. Ejecting and Banning > > >
F. The Governor Nation > > >
G. Help! Our Governor Is Gone! > > >

V. How To Grow Your Region
A. Why do I need to recruit? > > >
B. Message Board Recruiting > > >
C. Telegram Recruitment > > >
(i.) Using a Telegram Template > > >
(ii.) Manual Telegram Recruitment > > >
(iii.) Stamp Telegram Recruitment > > >
(iv.) API Telegram Recruitment > > >
D. Recruitment Security > > >
E. Tips and Advice for Recruitment > > >

VI. Interregional Relations and Gameplay
A. Regional Governments > > >


The old guide by Naivetry can still be accessed here. Note that it is no longer regularly updated and lacks some information, though it was and remains an excellent resource. Additionally, this thread was created and maintained for the longest time by a nation called Consular, who CTEd a while back. I (Ambis) just volunteered to take over.

Feel free to post any questions or ask for assistance in this thread.

Recent changes:
- Updated manual recruitment link + changed some words (founder → Governor, %Nation% → %NATION%
- Part 2 of Frontier changes
- RMB recruitment update
- Part 1 of Frontier changes
- Added introduction and advice
- Added Discord
- Added warnings on usage of off site resources
To be added:
- Section on interregional relations needs additions.
- Advice from founders.

PostPosted: Fri Sep 11, 2015 1:00 am
by The Ambis
I. Introduction

This guide will mean different things to different people. If you're just looking to make a personal region to store your nations, and want to know how it all works, you're in the right place. Anyone can make a region, and it's not hard to do. But if you're looking to build that region into one of the superpowers of NationStates, you're going to need to put in a lot more work. I can't do the work for you, but hopefully this guide can give you a solid grounding for where to begin. Or maybe you're having trouble with invasions and need a primer on regional security. I've written extensively about keeping your region safe and can put you on the right path. Or maybe you just forgot how to change the regional flag -- I can help with that too. If you have any questions and cannot find the answers anywhere in the guide, just post your questions as a reply, and I or someone else will surely do our best to answer.


A. Before You Begin

I'm going to use this introduction section to provide some general advice -- it's mainly aimed at those who want to build a big successful region and community. If you want to be successful, please do read it before you begin. Though of course, ultimately this game is what you make of it, and you should always do what you think best -- I'm no prophet and you aren't bound at all to follow along with my opinions. Put in the effort and be excellent to others and you'll have every chance at success.

Don't run before you can walk. I know it's tempting to just jump right in and start you own region. It's true, many of the big regions in the game were started by relatively inexperienced players, and they did just fine. I don't want to dampen your enthusiasm, it's important you hold on to that, but for each success story there are hundreds that are not so successful. It's also worth noting that, in my own opinion, it was much easier to build a region up in the past than it is today. I do not recommend starting your own region right away. You should consider, if you're interested in regions and gameplay, to first join an already established region. You'll gain valuable experience, and make even more valuable friends, and those things will be invaluable once you venture out on your own. You'll make mistakes, we all did, you'll see what works and what doesn't, you'll see who you can trust and who you can't, and of course you'll see what you enjoy and what you don't -- all of these things will help you make your region the best it can be.

It is possible to go it alone -- but it's so much easier with friends. When you start a region by yourself, you have to build the place from the ground up, likely alone, and that's a huge burden. Starting a region with a small group of friends gives a number of advantages. Perhaps most importantly, because you started with a group, your region will be active from the very beginning. You and your friends can talk to each other on the RMB, or on the forums, and that makes your region already look engaging and interesting, which in turn will make it that much more likely other players will join you. Just like it takes money to make money, it takes activity to make activity, and so having some action from the start will be a huge boost to your recruitment. There are other benefits of course -- you can split up the workload involved with setting things up and recruiting, making it less of a mission for each person, and you'll have a core group of dedicated supporters for when things just get hard.

PostPosted: Fri Sep 11, 2015 1:01 am
by The Ambis
II. How To Create A Region

This section of the guide deals with the step by step process for actually creating a region. It covers the questions and fields you'll need to answer, and provides some advice for the issues you should think about. Please do follow the links to additional information, as some of these initial decisions you'll make are very important. It is recommended that the entire guide, not just this section, be reviewed before actually creating a region.


A. Accessing the Region Creation Page

The fastest way to access the region creation page is to simply follow this link directly there.

Alternatively, on your current region's main page, look beneath the Embassies, Tags, and Regional Power sections for a line that says "Tired of life in [Region]?". Clicking this takes you to the Change Region page, which allows you to search through all existing regions, and includes an option to "Create a New Region..." near the top of the page.

Make sure you are currently logged into a nation. This nation will become the Founder and Possibly the Governor of your new region, so choose which nation you want in this role. This is an important decision to make, and there are a few things you should really consider before creating your region.

You should consider using an alternative nation specially created for this purpose, instead of your personal main nation, as this will allow you to potentially share or give away control of the Governor nation, while maintaining sole control over your own personal nation. Believe me -- a day will probably come where you will need to do this. You can of course use your personal nation if you wish, though I wouldn't recommend it. See here for more information on the benefits and risks of this. Additionally, if you do choose to use your personal nation as the governor, you can later abdicate the position, as detailed here.

You should consider also using a nation with a respectable name, and potentially even a name that relates to the region you want to create, for thematic consistency.


B. Choosing a Region Name

Choose a name for your new region! This is possibly the most important decision you'll make! Try to pick something cool or interesting. Have a look around the world of NationStates and see what other regions are called, both to inspire you and to make sure you don't go with something too similar to an existing major region.

This must be unique, you cannot use the name of any existing regions. Take a moment to ensure the desired spelling is correct. Keep in mind that region names are case sensitive, in the sense that the name will appear exactly as you type here. This means that if you spell the name "MaXTopiA", the region will be displayed with that exact bizarre arrangement of capital letters. Consider that having a name that looks thoroughly odd like that isn't likely to attract others to join your new region.

Once you finalise the creation of your new region, you will not be able to change its name at any point in the future. Though you can always create another region with your new preferred name, assuming it isn't taken.


C. World Factbook Entry

The World Factbook Entry, sometimes shortened to the "WFE", is the customizable information box that is visible at the top of the main page of every region. It is usually used to provide a welcome message, and a series of important links or information relevant to the members of the region. This is usually the first thing players will see when they look at your region, and it can have a considerable influence on their opinion of your region. This is especially important for recruitment, as a well-organized and visually appealing WFE can complement your recruitment messages and help attract new members to your region. As such, it is very much recommended that some time be dedicated to setting up your WFE. You don't necessarily have to make this look super fancy right now -- it can be edited at any time later, but please do have a think about it.

You can use a range of formatting tricks to make the WFE look fancier. Utilizing colors, bolding, italics, and such can greatly improve the look of your WFE, though it should be noted that using these excessively can also have the opposite effect. For example, all bolded text actually looks rather appealing, but underlining everything does not. Consider your use of color carefully, as NationStates has a number of different themes, and some colors are difficult to read when viewed on certain themes. Dark blues for example look lovely on the standard theme but can be difficult to read on dark themes. That said, most people do use the standard theme, so you don't need to completely base your design around theme compatibility -- Find a balance or just focus on making it look fantastic for the standard theme, it's up to you. Don't be afraid to just play around with trial and error until you find a setup that looks good to you.

Available formatting is outlined in the NationStates FAQ.

The WFE can be changed at any point later on through the region control page of your region. In addition, a "Preview" option is available when altering the WFE. This function allows you to make edits and view what your new WFE will look like, without actually finalizing those changes, letting you experiment with formatting without actually changing the publically visible WFE until you are ready to do so.


D. Creating your region as a Frontier

Beneath the WFE is a prompt that reads "This region is a Frontier" and a checkbox. Clicking the (?) symbol next to this will provide additional information on this option.

This option will decide whether your Region gets founded as a Frontier. This means that the region has the ability to (under the right conditions) spawn new nations in it. This is lucrative and very good for region building, but it does come with a drawback - executive power lies solely with the delegate, therefore leaving your region highly vulnerable to attacks.

By default, this box will be unchecked, and your region will be created normally. This means tt will have a Governor who always be able to appoint and remove regional officers and override anything that happens in your region. If you choose to check this option, your region will become a frontier, and no one except the delegate will have Executive power and will not have this access. In this event, the only nation with access to these controls will be your World Assembly Delegate. If your region is founded as a stronghold, and it does not have a World Assembly Delegate, then nobody will be able to access these controls, nor will you get any nation spawns. If regional officers are appointed, they can exercise certain powers, but they cannot be given Executive power and so they cannot appoint other officers -- only the Governor or Delegate, depending on if you are a frontier/ have given the delegate executive power, are able to do this.

This is not a permanent decision. You will be able to change this setting once your region is created. IHOWEVER, if you do not have the governor make the switch (if your governor has CTE'd and/or you are a frontier) there will be a hefty influence cost (see here to learn about influence). Additionally, when making the switch back from a frontier, your delegate will become the Governor, not you. This can leave your open for a Coup d'état if the delegate pulls you out of a frontier. Raiders can also utilize this to capture your region.


E. Delegate Access to Regional Control

The second option to consider is a prompt that reads "The region's World Assembly Delegate has Executive authority." and a checkbox. Clicking the (?) symbol next to this will provide additional information on this option. By default, this option is enabled and grants the Delegate the same Executive powers as a Governor. Governors can however remove Delegate powers, but Delegates can not remove Governor powers.

It is advised that Governors use caution when granting this power, as not all Delegates can be relied on to exercise these powers responsibly. Even if you trust your Delegate, they can be easily replaced, sometimes by someone with hostile intentions. See here for more information on the dangers of having an executive Delegate.

In general, it is usually safer to have regional officers than give the Delegate power. If you are at all unsure, it is highly recommended that this option be disabled -- Do NOT give your Delegate access to regional control.

If the Governor nation leaves the region, ceases to exist (often shortened to "CTE" -- deleted for inactivity or moderation reasons), or creates the region as a frontier, then the Delegate will automatically be granted Executive authority.

If a Governor is present in the region, then they can enable or disable this option at any time on the regional control page, adding or removing Executive status from the Delegate as they please. In contrast, the Delegate can never alter the authority of the Governor..


F. Regional Password

The final option for the region creation page is to consider imposing a regional password. This requires all nations who wish to move into your region to successfully input a password first. This password can be anything of your choosing. You can add, remove, or change a password at any time on the regional control page. You can later choose to show the password to all residents, in which case all nations in the region will know the password and will be able to share it as they please, or not in which case only the executive nations will know the password.

Passwords are useful for a group of players who already know each other, and who do not want others moving into their region. They can also be used as a limited protection against invasion. In general, unless you have a specific reason to need a password it is better to disable this option -- having a password usually makes recruitment and growing your region very difficult. See here for more information on protecting your region.


G. Create the Region!

Once you are content with the above options, press the "Create Region" button to finalize. The nation you used to create the new region will be automatically moved into this new region and will be permanently listed on the region's main page as the "Founder" (whether it is a frontier or not, it will still be listed). The nation will also receive a badge on its main page for founding a region (though I would hope you aren't founding a region just for the badge...) Additionally, if you were not founded as a frontier, your nation will be listed as the Governor, and you will also get a shin badge on its main page!

You can then move your nation back elsewhere if you wish, but keep in mind one nation must always be present in your region. If your region "updates" without any resident nations, it will cease to exist! Updates occur twice a day at twelve-hour intervals, you can look here for more information on this. Remember as well that removing the Governor nation from the region will automatically grant the Delegate executive powers, which is usually not a good thing.

PostPosted: Fri Sep 11, 2015 1:02 am
by The Ambis
III. Regional Development and Community

A. What Powers Do I Have?

If your Governor or Delegate have Executive authority, then they can access your region's administration page and exercise a range of powers. Remember; Executive nations are the region's Governor if they chose to retain their access when they created the region, and potentially the region's World Assembly Delegate if the Governor is not executive, if the Governor granted them access, or if the Goveror is not present in the region. It's important to take some time to familiarise yourself with the purpose of these powers and how they are used.

To access the administration page for your region, navigate to the region's main page. At the very top of the page, resting above the World Factbook Entry, are four buttons: "Board", "Activity", "History", and "Admin". Selecting the Admin button will take you to the regional control page.

Alternatively, this url will take you there directly, replacing [Your_Region] with the actual name of your region of course: nationstates.net/page=region_control/region=[Your_Region]

Note that any nation can see a limited version of the administration page, which will display information such the current regional officers, and which nations are banned from the region. However, only nations with the relevant authority can see the full options and actually make changes.

There are seven separate categories of powers available, which are described in the table below. This information is also available on your region's administration page, by clicking the (?) symbol beneath the "Officers" header. Executive nations have access to all these powers, and can additionally assign categories of powers to other nations, creating "regional officers". For a list, click the spoiler below!
Governor - Can appoint/dismiss Officers and set their authority. Governors can modify the authority of Delegates, but Delegates cannot modify Governors. If the Governor is absent from the region, the Delegate gains Executive authority automatically ("by circumstance").
World Assembly - Can vote on World Assembly proposals and resolutions.
Successor - Can become Governor if the region's current Governor abdicates or ceases to exist.
Appearance - Can modify the World Factbook Entry, Flag, and Tags, and pin Dispatches.
Border Control - By spending Regional Influence, can eject/ban/unban nations and set/modify/remove the region password.
Communications - Can send region-wide telegrams without stamps, compose Welcome telegrams, suppress & unsuppress posts on the Regional Message Board, and control who can recruit for the region.
Embassies - Can open/close embassies with other regions and extend embassy posting privileges.
Polls - Can create polls.


B. What Are Regional Officers?

Executive nations can assign any of the other categories of power, outlined in the above image, to other nations. This allows you to assign powers to other nations and share the workload of managing and building the region. It also allows members of a regional government to be given positions that are actually reflected in the game itself, for example you might appoint a nation as in charge of foreign affairs, and give them authority over embassies.

  • Regions may appoint up to a maximum of 12 Regional Officers.
  • Executive authority is required to appoint, dismiss, or modify Regional Officers. Only Governors and Delegates can have Executive authority (assuming the region is not a frontier and/or the governor has enabled executive authority for the Delegate).
  • Apart from Executive authority, Regional Officers can be granted the ability to do anything a Governor or Delegate does.
  • No Influence is required to appoint, dismiss, or modify a Regional Officer.
  • Influence costs are doubled for Regional Officers. That is, most functions can be used freely, but some Border Controls, such as ejecting nations, are harder to use. See here for an explanation of what influence is.
  • Regional Officers retain power until actively dismissed (they remain even if the Delegate who appointed them is no longer Delegate).
  • The Delegacy can be given a specific set of powers, rather than being either powerless or fully executive. This allows the Governor to set the Delegate as non executive, then grant them specific powers, such as control over embassies or appearance, without giving them border control power, therefore avoiding the risk of the Delegate using border control powers for malevolent purposes.


C. A Regional Flag

You can upload a flag for your region, which will appear on the top right corner of your region's main page. Just select the "Change Flag..." button on the Region Control page to reveal the upload tools, and choose the image from your computer you wish to use.

This flag will be one of the first things players see when they view your region, and it forms a crucial part of your regional identity. Some more casual regions use a picture of someone or something (often amusing) as their flag, while more serious regions use flags that are more in line with the flags of real life nations and international alliances. Think carefully about how your flag will reflect upon your region and pick a design that captures what the region will stand for, symbolically or otherwise. It is definitely preferable to design a flag of your own, rather than using someone else's work sourced from a google search. Do not use the flag of other regions or nations without permission, as this could be seen as impersonation by the moderators, and they will act appropriately.


D. What are Tags?

Tags are small descriptors you can add to your region. They appear on your region's main page, beneath the WFE and in between "Embassies" and "Regional Power". Tags are primarily used to help users find more relevant search results when looking for a specific kind of region that might suit their interests. For example, if you have a regional map, you should tag your region with "Map". Your region will then show up if a player searches for regions with a map.

Note that some tags have meanings that are not immediately apparent and could have political consequences. For example, tagging your region as "invader" may attract the ire of regions that dislike invaders, may make relations with defender organisations difficult, and may even discourage individual nations that perceive a negative connotation in the word "invader". Tags do not in themselves define your region or how the interregional community views it, but they can have an influence so be careful in which tags you apply.


E. Region Wide Telegrams, Welcome Telegrams, Pinned Dispatches, and Polls

The "Region Wide Telegram" tool can be used to send a mass telegram to every nation present in the region (this is free, whilst usually sending a mass telegram requires telegram stamps). The WA Delegate and other communications officers must have held office for at least 26 hours to be able to do so, to prevent invader or other undesirable Delegates from abusing this. The region's Governor does not have this restriction. Region wide telegrams are good for sending announcements, news or current events, and keeping all the region members up to date on developments. Keep in mind that using this without purpose or too often may irritate some players who might not want their inbox filled with dozens of unimportant announcements.

You can set up a message that will automatically be sent to new arrivals as they move into your region. The message could include a nice welcoming message, and information on the various things the region has to offer, such as how to go about applying for a map spot or joining a chatroom. Make sure you aren't just repeating the same lines from your recruitment telegram though, and ideally try to keep this message reasonably brief, as a long wall of text could dampen excitement at joining your region. This message if it invites a response can also be used as a prompt to start an actual conversation with other nations, which can be a great way to make them feel welcome and a part of the regional community.

Selected dispatches can be "pinned" to the main page of your region. They will appear as a part of your WFE, beneath your customised text and separated from it by a line (this means if you have pinned dispatches, ending your WFE with a line is unnecessary). The dispatches are not displayed in full but merely have their titles listed, as well as their authors and how many upvotes they have. You can attach as many dispatches as you please, but only three will be visible by default, while the rest can be viewed by pressing the "More" button that will appear at the bottom of the three visible dispatches. Pinned dispatches are usually used for information that is important, but too long to fit in the WFE proper. This can include lists of active role plays that members of the region are running, a copy of the regional charter or constitution (see here for information on regional government), the regional map if it has one, and so on. In general it is a good idea to minimize the amount of information you pack into your WFE, as smaller and neater is often more appealing, and to use pinned dispatches to make this excess information still accessible.

You can use Region Control to create polls, which will appear on your region's main page between the "World Census Report" and "Regional Happenings" sections. You can have the poll open to all nations, meaning anyone in the game may vote, and they may potentially vote more than once by creating multiple nations. You can restrict voting to only residents of your region, meaning nation who is currently in your region or moves there can vote. The native option will restrict voting to nations who have resided in your region for an extended period and accumulated regional influence, this will mean nations who only recently joined will be unable to vote. World Assembly restricts voting to WA nations only, which also means because of the WA rules there will be only one vote per player. Note that you cannot edit a poll once it has been created. Polls can be an excellent way to measure the feeling of members of your region on particular issues, such as World Assembly resolutions, flag designs, or even if cake is truly better than pie. You can also use polls for elections, such as for the WA Delegate, but always be mindful of how your poll could be manipulated -- make use of the special restricted voting options to ensure everything is fair.


F. The Regional Message Board

The Regional Message Board is a great place for casual conversation between members of your region, and can be used for welcoming, questions and answers, announcements, debates, even in character role play posts. It's a good idea to keep your RMB active and interesting, for the enjoyment of nations already in your region, and to make your region appear more attractive to new players, who are much more likely to join a region that looks very active.

Nations that have "Communications" authority have the ability to moderate their region's message board, by "suppressing" posts. A suppressed post will not be deleted, but its content will be hidden and replaced with a line of text, i.e. "Post by [Nation] suppressed by [Nation]". Other players will still be able to read the content by expanding it, should they choose to do so. Suppression is best used to hide posts that are particularly disruptive or inappropriate to the conversation at hand. It is not a very good idea to excessively or arbitrarily suppress posts, especially if they merely voice an opinion you dislike, as such acts might be viewed negatively by other members of your region. To suppress a post, simply hover over the message in question with your cursor, and options to do so will appear. You can unsuppress posts in the same way.

Normally only nations physically present in your region can post on its regional message board. You can extend this right to Governors and WA Delegates of regions with which you have embassies, all regional officers in said region, all officers with communication power, or to all nations in said regions. You may not give posting rights to nations in regions you don't have an embassy with. This can be great for fostering friendship between regions, as it allows nations in different regions to freely chat on each other's message boards. It does entail a degree of trust however as you are allowing outsiders to post on your board, and while you can certainly suppress disliked content, doing so might cause tension with the other region. The options for enabling or disabling these extended posting rights can be found in Region Control.


G. What Are Embassies and Do I Want Them?

You can use Region Control to request embassies with other regions. Embassies will show up on the region's main page, directly beneath the WFE. When you make an embassy request, a notification is sent to the other region, and they can decide whether to accept your request or deny it. Similarly, you may receive requests from other regions which will show up here, allowing you to choose whether to accept or not. If two regions agree on an embassy, a three-day timer will begin, during which a message indicating the embassy is being constructed will be visible on the main page of both regions. Once the timer finishes this message will disappear and regions will appear in each other's embassy lists. Note that an embassy can be canceled at any time, but cancellation requires the same countdown, throughout which a message will be visible indicating the deconstruction of the embassy.

For some regions, embassies are effectively just collectibles, while others consider them an indication of a formal relationship. Some regions accept embassy requests with all other regions, while others are stricter and impose criteria that must be met first, such as a minimum regional population or age. It is a good idea to contact the leader of the region you want an embassy with before sending a request, as many outright deny "unsolicited" requests. Remember that any public stances your region takes might affect whether other regions are willing to accept embassies. See here for more information on interregional politics (coming soon...).


H. A Regional Map

When creating a region, you might want to have a map showing where nations are located. This is semi-easily done. Any nation can create a regional map, but Officers with appearance authority can choose whether or not to display it on the region page, which will be just below the WFE. For more information, check here.


I. The Activity Feed

NationStates provides you with an activity page that will automatically update with all the happenings in your region, much like the global activity page. The page allows you to track which nations are endorsing which other nations, which nations have recently arrived or left the region, and lots of other useful information. This is particularly useful when it comes to regional security. You can find this feed just above the Message Board on your region's main page. Alternatively, you can use the following URL to go there directly, replacing [Your_Region] with the name of your region: nationstates.net/page=activity/view=region.[Your_Region]


J. Do I Need An Offsite Forum?

The regional message board and telegrams both have their limitations, and are sometimes not ideally suited for complicated discussions. The message board only shows ten messages at a time by default, though by selecting "Older Messages" at the top of the message board, or "Forum View" at the bottom right hand of the page, you can view the rest. Forum view is particularly useful for looking back through the chat history. Having a serious discussion on the message board though is often complicated by multiple players having a multitude of different conversations at once, all in one place. Telegrams are limited to person to person, making group conversations tedious. As such, to allow better organisation of their affairs, many regions create their own offsite forums.

Offsite forums allow more control over content and structure, for example having different sections of the forum for debates, games, and other activities. Different threads can be created for different discussions. Polls can be created to vote on matters, with more options and the ability to better regulate who can and cannot vote. Typically NationStates focused forums will include areas for introductions, general discussion, spam games, role play, World Assembly matters, and any space needed for the regional government to conduct itself. The great thing about such a forum is the flexibility it provides, as new sections can be added or taken away as need arises.

Some regions pay for their own servers to host forums, but free alternatives are widespread and usually quite reliable. Some good options are tapatalk and proboards, to name but a few.

Having a forum can help your region greatly in developing a shared sense of community and history. However, it is not recommended that you create a forum merely for the sake of having one. Unless you are willing and able to dedicate time into making the forum interesting and active, it can sometimes be better to not have one, and focus instead on your actual region. A desolate and inactive forum will reflect badly on your region and may discourage potential new members.

I feel it is important that you carefully consider whether or not you use offsite tools like this. Many large regions in NationStates prosper just fine without them. Offsite activity can be risky because it draws activity away from the main site to a less noticeable location, which can make your region appear initially less active which hurts your recruitment efforts. Many new players will be wary of offsite locations and may be unwilling to join your forum, which is an entirely reasonable stance to take and one you should be considerate of.

NationStates moderators cannot help you with problems that occur offsite. If you are going to create an offsite forum for your region, it is highly recommended that you read this guide to forum security by Kshrlmnt. If you feel unwilling to read the complete guide, the most important point is that you be extremely careful with who you give administrative power to.

If you create an offsite forum, you are accepting for yourself a great deal of responsibility. The burden of moderating behaviour on that site, and ensuring its users are protected, falls to you. If you are unwilling to accept the very real and very serious responsibility of being a forum administrator, then do not create your own forum.


K. Internet Relay Chat

Internet Relay Chat, often shortened to just IRC, is an instant messaging service, essentially an online chatroom. Many regions establish their own IRC rooms (or "channels" as they are known) as a place for their members to talk, without the need to constantly refresh the regional message board to see if anyone has something new to say. Rooms like these can be a great way for your region members to get to know each other. Keep in mind that you will have to run the room yourself, which might require learning some technical knowledge. It is always better to control the room yourself rather than asking someone else to set one up for you.

NationStates moderators will not regulate activity that occurs offsite, so you will need to moderate the room yourself to ensure it remains a pleasant place for people to spend time. As noted above regarding offsite forums, if you create an IRC room, you are responsible for ensuring it is a civil and safe environment for its users. If you do not want this responsibility, do not create a room.

See here for some more information on how to create and run an IRC channel, courtesy of Jamie Anumia.

It is worth noting IRC is falling out of favour and has been largely replaced by the Discord service; see below.


L. Discord

Many regions and communities these days have stopped using IRC in favour of Discord. Discord is an all in one voice and text chat service, not unlike Skype, that can be used by downloading an app or simply through your web browser.

As with IRC above, this provides a place for their members to talk, without the need to constantly refresh the regional message board to see if anyone has something new to say. Rooms like these can be a great way for your region members to get to know each other. Keep in mind that you will have to run the room yourself, which might require learning some technical knowledge. It is always better to control the room yourself rather than asking someone else to set one up for you.

Unlike IRC above, Discord is significantly more user friendly and has a much more appealing interface. It also has a great many more features, such as allowing you to set up multiple chat channels on the same server for different discussion topics, which is fantastic for organising your region's affairs.

Remember, NationStates moderators will not regulate activity that occurs offsite, so you will need to moderate the room yourself to ensure it remains a pleasant place for people to spend time. As was the case with offsite forums and IRC, if you create a Discord room, you are responsible for ensuring it is a civil and safe environment for its users. If you do not want this responsibility, do not create a Discord server.

PostPosted: Fri Sep 11, 2015 1:03 am
by The Ambis
IV. Keeping Your Region Safe

A. Should The WA Delegate Be Executive?

If you are the Governor nation and founded your region as a stronghold, then you can grant or remove executive authority for the region's World Assembly Delegate (Delegate, for short). If your Governor does not have permanent executive power (ie: A Frontier) then this option will be automatically enabled and cannot be changed. This option will also be automatically enabled if an executive Governor is not present in the region. The Governor can however disable it again if they move back into the region. The option will likewise be automatically enabled if your Governor ceases to exist due to inactivity or moderator wrath, though if the nation was only deleted for inactivity it can be revived at any time, at which point the Governor can then return to the region and disable this option again.

Note that the Governor continues to have access to all controls when outside the region, including the ban and password controls, so it is not possible for a Governor to be locked out of their own region. If the Delegate has imposed a password or banned the Governor's nation, the Governor can still access regional control and simply unban themselves.

The benefits of having an executive WA Delegate are that the region will have another player capable of performing administrative work, be that updating the WFE or accepting embassies, etc. This removes some of the pressure on the Governor, who would otherwise be relied upon to manage the region on their own. If the Governor is not particularly responsive or active, then this may be necessary to keep things running in a timely fashion. Having an executive Delegate also makes the position much more appealing to nations and may encourage more WA nations to take up residence in your region. It should be noted that with the addition of regional officers this is no longer completely necessary, as powers can be assigned as needed to a range of nations, and the Delegate can be given a set of specific powers without executive authority.

The dangers of an executive WA Delegate are that said Delegate could effectively go rogue, and act against the best interests of the region or without the Governor's permission. As they will have full access to the region's administration page and the ability to suppress the message board they are capable of causing considerable damage. It is also possible that your Delegate might be replaced with another, less scrupulous, Delegate who could change many settings before the Governor noticed the Delegate had even been replaced. The largest danger however is that a group from outside your region could move to your region and endorse one of their own nations, effectively forcing one of their own into the Delegate seat and overriding the votes of any actual resident nations. This is called "invasion", and it is a somewhat unscrupulous activity practiced by many regions, often targeting other regions for no real reason beyond their vulnerability to such attacks. This threat is very real and you should be aware of it. Additionally, if the delegate has enough influence and executive authority, they are able to swap the region to a frontier and back, making them the Governor. The Governor can stop this at any time, so long as the region is not a frontier.


B. Should I Have Regional Officers?

Creating regional officers to help organize and manage your region is a good idea. You can grant specific powers to specific nations -- this means for example you can give the ability to grant or reject embassies, without also giving that nation power over border control, the latter being a much more dangerous power to give. Using regional officers to distribute power is generally a much safer option than any of the other power-sharing methods -- Because you don't need to share access to the Governor nation, you don't need to give the Delegate executive powers, and you can give limited powers to specific nations. An officer will only ever have the specific powers you have given them, and those powers can be taken away at any time. Those powers are also only available to that specific nation -- unlike with a Delegate the powers cannot be transferred over to a new nation without you actually manually doing that.

That said, you still need to be careful with who you grant powers to. Though only the nations you choose will have powers, those nations could still go rogue and act against you. If you make a nation an officer and give them power over appearance, they can change your WFE to anything they want without your approval, including potentially to something unpleasant. You should be very careful when granting the border control power. A nation with this power can ban other nations from your region, including the Governor nation (the Governor can of course unban themselves and move back -- but you may not notice at first and in the interim the rogue officer could cause much damage). The general idea is the same as granting executive power to your Delegate -- only do it if you really trust them!


C. Should My Region Have A Password?

To keep your WA Delegate safe from being replaced by invasion, some regions utilize a password to prevent unwelcome guests. Passwording your region does not ensure its security. Remember that this method is only effective if invaders do not acquire the password. A region with a password is vulnerable to infiltration, where players will join your region seemingly as a new player, whilst concealing their true allegiance. Their aim is to acquire your region's password, which they will use to enable an invasion. It should be kept in mind that some invaders are very good at appearing innocuous. If you rely on a password for your security, be cautious about who you give the password, and ensure that the password is changed on a regular basis to minimize risk. Ideally, every single time you let a new nation into your region, you should immediately change the password afterward.

If you have an active executive Governor and your WA Delegate is not executive, then there is no real need to use a regional password. If your Governor and WA Delegate are both executive, there is a chance you will still be targeted for invasion, as often the invaders can inflict considerable damage before the Governor is aware of what has happened. Remember however that all damage is reversible by the Governor.

Sometimes regions with active and executive governors will nonetheless choose to password their region. This is most often the case with dedicated role-playing regions, who do not wish to be subjected to the annoyances of invasion, regardless of how easy it might theoretically be for their Governor to reverse any damage done. For these regions, the harm done to their recruitment is minor as they are already very selective in terms of who they let into their region.

It is worth noting that passwords are a considerable impediment to recruitment, and make it difficult to grow the size of your region. Unless you include the password in your recruitment messages, which would entirely defeat the point of having a password in the first place, then potential recruits will have to actively request the password from you. This is an obstacle that most other regions will not have, and new players tend gravitate towards regions where it is easier for them to immediately get involved. Regions that are open, available for nations to move there right away, are simply more appealing to most.


D. What Is An Endorsement Cap?

Some regions enforce a maximum endorsement limit for regular WA nations, preventing them from gathering too many endorsements without attracting attention (this is known as an "endocap"). This is done to ensure the Delegate always has significantly more endorsements than any other nation in the region, so that suddenly surpassing the Delegate is very difficult. A safe buffer zone should be at least thirty endorsements, which will protect you from all but the largest largest attacks. However not all regions will have sufficient WA nations to make this method possible or practical. Some players will see endorsement caps as a somewhat draconian measure, because this will limit the ability of players to democratically elect their Delegate using the endorsement mechanism, but this concern can be alleviated by having the Delegate position elected through other means, such as a poll or a vote on an offsite forum.


E. Ejecting and Banning

Nations with "border control" authority (any nations with Executive authority, plus any officers you give border control powers) have the ability to eject and ban other nations from the region. This can be accomplished through the administration page, where you can choose the nation you wish to remove from the drop down menu, then selecting the desired option, either ejecting and banning or merely ejecting. An alternative method is to simply visit the main page of the nation in question, and there will be options for removing the nation at the bottom of the page. Merely ejecting a nation will remove it from your region and forcibly relocate it to the Rejected Realms, but the nation will not be prevented from simply moving back to your region. Ejecting and banning, commonly referred to as "banjecting", will remove the nation and prevent it from rejoining.

Banjecting adds a nation to your region's ban list. You may add any nation to your ban list that has been present in your region or mentioned in your region's "regional happenings". This means nations that have voluntarily left may be subsequently banned to prevent their return. Nations that withdraw embassies with your region or perform another such connected action, even though they have never actually been in your region, may also be banned. You can remove a nation from a ban list at any time on the administration page.

The eject and ban tools are useful for removing nations that are particularly disruptive to your region, such as message board spammers, and for removing nations suspected or confirmed to be have malevolent intentions. However, repeated or unjustified use of these powers will likely be viewed in a very negative light by those residing in your region, and may also have a negative impact on your relationship with other regions, who may perceive your actions as tyrannical. Of course, if being a tyrant is actually your aim, then do away with the troublesome dissenters as you please! But a benevolent leader would be well advised to only exercise these powers as a mechanism for protecting the region against invaders, or as a last resort against tiresome players who cannot be otherwise reasoned with.


F. The Governor Nation

The best and only complete way to keep your region safe and secure is to have your region as a stronghold with a Governor. Whilst designating yourself as a frontier when creating a region is advertised as more democratic, it also makes your region dependent upon its WA Delegate. The region will be highly vulnerable to invasion as if the Delegate is replaced by someone malevolent, there is little that can be done. There is no real stigma attached to regions that operate as a stronghold, and there is nothing preventing you from running your region democratically regardless, so surrendering this access is giving up an awful lot and gaining very little.

It is very important to ensure your Governor nation is kept alive, both to keep it from being deleted for inactivity, and to maintain the appearance that it is active to discourage invaders. The Governor nation should be kept inside the region it founded at all times, to prevent executive power from being automatically granted to the WA Delegate.

It is a good idea to consider using a "puppet" nation as the Governor of your region, as opposed to your "main" or personal nation. This will allow you to share access and/or transfer the ownership of the Governor nation, without having to share or give up your own personal nation. It's also a good idea to only use this Gobernor nation for regional administration, meaning you should avoid engaging in arguments on the forums or participating in the World Assembly, as this helps to minimize the chance of the nation being deleted by the moderators.

Some regions share access to the Governor nation across multiple players. Though the game moderators generally frown upon and do not recommend sharing nation access, this does allow multiple players to make administrative changes to the region with ease, instead of relying on a single player being regularly online. Other regions transfer the Governor nation between players, so that only one player has access at any given time, and ensuring that the nation is always controlled by an active player. This latter method is often employed where the original Governor is no longer particularly active or has retired from the game.

If you are transferring ownership or sharing a Governor nation between multiple players, make sure the Governor is not a member of the World Assembly. Every player can only have access to one nation in the World Assembly at any given time, and it is very easy to run afoul of this rule when using shared nations, so it is better to err on the side of caution.

If the Governor is still active but wishes to not perform admin duties, or wants a different nation to serve as a governor, then they can appoint a Successor and abdicate, which will remove them as Governor, and instead set the successor as Governor. You can have multiple successors, which can be ordered on a list. This list can only be altered by the Governor.


G. Help! Our Governor Is Gone!

I'll be honest; that's not good news.

Running a governorless region in NationStates can be difficult. It is possible to keep your region safe, but you will have to always be vigilant and pay close attention to endorsement levels. You will need to enforce an endorsement limit, and be prepared to kick nations which collect too many endorsements to make sure nobody is able to steal the Delegate position. It can help to establish diplomatic ties with larger regions to ward off potential attackers, and who can provide assistance if you are attacked. Canada and Stargate are two examples of regions that have done well despite their governorless status.

There is a way to regain your status as a stronghold with a Governor, however, it is a long, dangerous, influence-heavy process. The basic gist of it is that you are able to transition your region to a frontier and back, upon which you will have regained a Governor. However, this process can be hacked by invader regions at any time. Since it takes a total of 28 days to complete (14 to transition to a frontier, and 14 to transition back) it leaves ample time for this to happen. All that has to be done is for a raider group to replace your delegate, and if the transition is completed with them as delegates, they become the Governor and thus gain total control over your region. This process also costs a lot of influence, with a base of 500, and more nations = more influence needed. However, this is considered to be the best option, as it keeps the region fully intact, unlike the below method.

You may wish to "refound" your region, which means basically allowing the region to naturally cease to exist (because there are no nations in it anymore) then recreating it with a new Governor. This would give you the security of a Governor nation again, but, it would also mean the destruction of your entire regional message board history, which to some can be a significant loss. It is also a time consuming and very risky operation. There are groups who will likely notice that you are planning the refound your region, who will attempt to interfere -- they may move nations in to prevent it from ceasing to exist, or more likely, they may wait for it to cease to exist then attempt to create it again faster than you can (basically stealing the refound). Many groups do not need a specific reason to interfere beyond the fact that they like to ruin the efforts of other players, and they are very good at what they do, so you should always assume someone will attempt to interfere and prepare accordingly.

If you want to refound your region, doing it alone is dangerous. There are groups out there who are willing to help, and you shouldn't be afraid to ask for help. An example of a region that might be willing to help you would be 10000 islands -- Telegram their Governor or Delegate and politely explain your situation. There are many other regions and groups who will similarly help, generally most "defender" groups should be willing. I won't list them all here but can provide examples on request if you want them.

For more information on the process involved, you can read this post by Sedgistan on how to refound a region. Please note it's rather old and somewhat outdated, but it does give a number of points to consider. Nephmir's Guide to Military Gameplay essentially quotes this same resource here.

PostPosted: Fri Sep 11, 2015 1:03 am
by The Ambis
V. How To Grow Your Region

A. Why do I need to recruit?

Recruiting is how you get new nations to move into your region. It is certainly possible that players will browse through the list of regions and yours will stand out, and it is certainly possible that players might simply stumble across your region and decide to stay, but both of these events are incredibly rare. If you want to increase the size of your region, you will need to actively recruit.

Growing your region will hopefully fill it with lots of different players, who will contribute to discussions on your message board and other activities, helping to develop a culture and community. Recruiting is only the beginning! Keep in mind that you will need to keep your region interesting and entertaining if you want to retain these recruits. If there isn't anything for them to do, they will likely move elsewhere.

Always remember that the value of a region is based on so much more than its population count. Merely having lots of resident nations is no substitute for a thriving community. This means you really shouldn't just fill your region with lots of your own nations. A very large region will not impress anyone if it is full of completely inactive nations. It is completely ok to have a region of average size, but full of vibrant activity.


B. Message Board Recruiting

This is no longe a valid method for recruiting. While it was always ineffective and frowned on by the community, it is now completely illegal in the eyes of the game moderators. Trying to recruit on any RMB will get you in trouble with them, which is not a good way to start a region.


C. Telegram Recruitment

Using telegrams to recruit is the primary way of convincing new nations to move to your region, and is the method used by all major regions in the game.

You can send recruitment telegrams to any nation in the game, regardless of what region they reside in. However, new nations (nations only recently founded) are by far the most likely to actually read the telegram and subsequently move to your region. Nations that have been resident in any particular region for an extended period are unlikely to move.

While residents of "Game Created Regions" will tolerate recruitment telegrams sent to new nations, they can become upset if you "blanket recruit" from them, which means sending recruitment telegrams to all their resident nations, including those who have not moved for years. Nations resident in "User Created Regions" are unlikely to move regions at all, having already made a decision to leave their starting region for that home, and recruiting from them is sometimes called "poaching". Engaging in either of these practices may jeopardise your relationship with the regions in question, and considering the little gain at stake, it is better to focus on newly founded nations.

There are three methods of recruitment using telegrams, which are explained in more detail below. Don't be discouraged if the number of recruits you gain is initially low, most regions rest on a success rate of about 1%, meaning they only gain one recruit for every hundred telegrams sent.


(i.) Using a Telegram Template

Creating a telegram template stores the contents of your telegram, allowing you to reuse it repeatedly without having to rewrite it entirely or copy and paste everything each time. This is very useful for recruitment. To create a recruitment telegram template:

1. Draft up your telegram.
2. Make sure to mark the telegram as a recruitment message. To do so, select the ▼ symbol to reveal the advanced options, and tick the "This is a [recruitment] telegram" box.
3. Send the telegram to "tag: template" (not including the quotation marks).
4. You should receive a telegram response with your template code. It will look something like "%TEMPLATE-0000000%". Save this somewhere so you don't lose it! Archiving this telegram is a good way to keep it saved permanently.

To use your template when sending a telegram, you just need to type or copy and paste the template code into the main body of the telegram. When you send the message, this code will be replaced with your pre-written message.

When using a template to recruit, you don't need to mark each individual telegram you send as a recruitment message. If you correctly marked the original template as a recruitment message, it will automatically mark all telegrams using the template as such.

Using a template gives you access to some comprehensive delivery reports, including information on which nations did or did not receive your message, and statistics on which nations actually subsequently moved to your region. This information can be great for assessing how persuasive your telegram is and whether you need to try a different approach. To access the delivery reports, locate your original template telegram in your sent messages folder. Alternatively, take the string of numbers from the end of your template code, and add it to the end of "http://www.nationstates.net/page=tg/tgid=".

Note that you will only be able to view or use your template when logged in to the nation that created it.


(ii.) Manual Telegram Recruitment

This page provides you with an automatically updating list of recently founded or refounded nations. It's a good idea when recruiting to keep this page open in one browser tab, and to open the nations you want to send messages to in alternate tabs (using chrome and other mainstream browsers: right click > "open link in new tab").

Simply open the page of the nation you want to send a recruitment telegram to, and select the "Write Telegram" button at the bottom. This will open a contents box. If you have a telegram template, input your template code, otherwise type up or copy and paste your recruitment message. Hit send, then move onto the next nation to repeat the process.

It is highly recommended that you use a template for this method, as it will make quickly messaging lots of nations in succession much easier and faster. It is worth noting that if you don't use a template, then you have much greater flexibility in altering and personalising your message for each nation, which could potentially increase the chances of success, but is also much slower.

If you are not using a template, you must remember to mark each telegram as a recruitment message. Select the ▼ symbol to reveal the advanced options, and tick the "This is a [recruitment] telegram" box. You will have to do this again for every telegram.

It is possible to send manual telegrams to multiple nations at once. To do this, open up a new telegram, and type the names of up to eight nations in the "To" box, separated by commas. Note that you can only add up to eight recipients for a free mass telegram, if you add any more then you will be charged telegram stamps to send the message.

See this dispatch by Andusre for more information on using manual telegrams efficiently.


(iii.) Stamp Telegram Recruitment

Telegram stamps are used to send mass telegrams to groups of more than eight nations, such as telegramming an entire region for example. This is convenient as you can send a single message to everyone, rather than having to individually telegram each nation. Stamps require real life currency and are purchased in the NationStates Store.

You can of course use stamps to a very long list of nations that you have manually selected, but it is more efficient to utilise one of the available telegram groups to target a specific audience en masse. The tag: New and tag: Refounded categories are the most useful for recruitment. As an example, using stamps allows you to address a telegram to tag: New5000 (or any other number of your choosing). This will result in your telegram being automatically sent to the next 5000 nations that are founded. You do not need to stay online or be consistently logged in for these telegrams to be sent. This will cost you one telegram stamp for each nation, so 5000 stamps in the above example. The stamps will be deducted regardless of whether the telegram was successful or even read by the recipient, at a cost of one stamp per nation. As a lot of nations are founded every day, you will need to purchase considerable amounts of stamps to sustain this form of recruitment.

You can use a template if you have one, or draft up your own new design, as you will only need to hit send once it doesn't particularly matter either way. You will be able to access a full delivery report by returning to this telegram in your sent messages folder, regardless of whether you used a template or not.

The NationStates FAQ outlines the various groups available for you to mass telegram using stamps.


(iv.) API Telegram Recruitment

If you are particularly technologically inclined and understand coding, you can use the NationStates API to automatically deliver recruitment telegrams for you. The full documentation on sending telegrams through the API can be found here. Make absolutely sure you are familiar with the relevant requirements and associated scripting rules before beginning.

Alternatively, there are programs that other players have developed and released that you can use. You should be aware that, because these are independently developed tools, their reliability or even ability to function at all are not guaranteed by NationStates.

This guide by Ever-Wandering Souls explores the different publically available clients, and the benefits and disadvantages of each.


D. Recruitment Security

On your Region Control page, you can find a "Recruitment" setting, near the bottom under Communications. This allows you to control exactly who is allowed to send recruitment telegrams on behalf of your region. This is extremely important, as if someone engages in illegal recruitment on behalf of your region (such as using a script that violates the API rules, or any of the scripting rules), then your region may be held responsible, regardless of whether you authorised that person to recruit or were at all aware of their methods. It is therefore wise to restrict the ability to recruit to trusted officers of your region.

The "Any Resident" setting will allow any nation in your region to engage in any form of recruiting. This is not recommended. "Specified Nations Only" allows specific nations that you choose to recruit. "Regional Admin Only" restricts recruitment to the executive nations of the region, i.e. the Governor, Delegate, or both. "API Only" restricts recruitment to only messages sent through the API. This means stamp and manual telegrams will not work. "No-one" prevents all recruitment.


E. Tips and Advice for Recruitment

  • Use the code "%NATION%" (without the quotation marks, and as capitalized) in a recruitment telegram, and it will be replaced with the name of the recipient of the telegram. For example, if you type "Hi %Nation%!", and your telegram is delivered to Maxtopia, it will be replaced with "Hi Maxtopia!". This is a great tool to make your telegrams seem more personal. Note that this tag only works if there is more than one recipient of the telegram, or if it is a telegram template. The tag will not work in a non-template to a single recipient nation.
  • Simply asking that players move to your region is not enough. Your recruitment telegram should explain why your region is a great place to be. Talk about what your region is like, such as its theme if it has one, the kind of role plays it has running if you do role plays. Include information on activities and things to do, such as a regional map, or active chatroom. A good idea would be to create a new nation, and have a look at the recruitment telegrams it receives for ideas.
  • A wall of text looks horrible and people will not read it. Break up your text into paragraphs, use sub headings to its always clear what you're talking about. Focus on specific points, don't just ramble. Do not make the telegram too long.
  • While good use of boldened, italic, or underlined text can make your telegrams a lot more interesting to look at, overusing any of these can also have the opposite effect. Do not use ALLCAPS, for most players it is obnoxious to read. Make absolutely sure your spelling and grammar are correct.
  • Make sure your region actually is interesting! Having a lovely recruitment message is all well and good, but if your region is in fact inactive and empty, players will not stay very long. Overselling and failing to deliver will not grow your region in the long run. If your focus is on the community and activity of your region, and that is coming along nicely, you'll find your recruitment rates will pick up as well. Make your region somewhere people will want to be, and they'll come.

PostPosted: Fri Sep 11, 2015 1:04 am
by The Ambis
VI. Interregional Relations and Gameplay

A. Regional Governments

Many regions in NationStates, certainly most of the larger and more successful ones, have developed formal governments to organise their population and coordinate their leadership. Typically, these governments are structured in a way that is very similar to real life national governments. For example, with a written constitution outlying that structure, a Parliament or Congress kind of body to decide laws, and a President or other leader, elected or otherwise. Within this system nations are essentially treated much like an individual person would be in real life, as opposed to an independent nation.

It is worth considering that regions in NationStates are actually large groups of nations, not individuals -- and so a regional government would really make more sense if it were organised like an interregional organisation, like NATO or the European Union. The reality is this kind of model is not commonly used, perhaps because it is too decentralised.

I would say the real reason regional governments are structured like this is that they are generally very out of character. This means they tend to view nations as players, as the individual behind the computer screen, rather than as a nation or the leader of the nation.

There are a great many ways you could go about arranging your government. Some regions are constitutional democracies, with elected and accountable leaders, and strong rights for individuals. Others are more autocratic, with a leader, usually the Founder or Delegate, who does whatever they please. Different forms of organisation work for different communities, and finding what works for yours is a big part of making your region a success. You should be willing to listen to feedback and the interests of your community, and adapt accordingly; consistency and stability are all well and good, but never be afraid to be dynamic, to scrap everything and try new things.

Most regions (though there are a few notable and somewhat chaotic exceptions) will have some kind of constitution or charter that outlines their regional government. This document will say who has what powers, how they can use those powers, and explain the process for elections if there are any. Creating such a document is a good start to getting your own regional government up and running.

PostPosted: Fri Sep 11, 2015 1:53 am
by Cora II
Very good introduction! Should get pinned to GP forums immediately. :clap:

I miss section 'Military gameplay (R/D) as an aspect of building a region' / 'Organising regional army as a method for building a region' etc.

Edit/add: Blue sub-title texts are hardly readable when using Dark themes

PostPosted: Fri Sep 11, 2015 1:54 am
by Sedgistan
Thanks for posting this. I haven't read every part of it, but I've seen enough to sticky this and de-sticky the old thread. If at some point you need more posts to put content in, let me (or another mod) know and we can sort that out.

PostPosted: Fri Sep 11, 2015 3:35 am
by Consular
Cora II wrote:Very good introduction! Should get pinned to GP forums immediately. :clap:

I miss section 'Military gameplay (R/D) as an aspect of building a region' / 'Organising regional army as a method for building a region' etc.

Edit/add: Blue sub-title texts are hardly readable when using Dark themes


I'm looking to add something on regional government and inter regional relations, and there will be stuff about armies in that part.

Thanks for the note about the colours. I'll have a look and think about changing them.

Sedgistan wrote:Thanks for posting this. I haven't read every part of it, but I've seen enough to sticky this and de-sticky the old thread. If at some point you need more posts to put content in, let me (or another mod) know and we can sort that out.


Thanks!

PostPosted: Fri Sep 18, 2015 1:45 am
by Consular
Tragically Cora was quite right about my lovely blue text being unreadable on dark theme, so I've removed it. Now the guide is devoid of colour but is at least readable. :S

I also fixed the anchoring.

PostPosted: Wed Sep 23, 2015 1:10 pm
by Ioraqus Recruitment Office
Thank you for making this guide good sir.

PostPosted: Sat Oct 03, 2015 10:26 pm
by Petyr
What is meant by the line under naming your region that says region names are "case sensitive"?

Valyria
VALYRIA

That's the same region. Should it say aren't case sensitive?

I enjoyed reading this. That is the only questionable item I found on my first read-through.

PostPosted: Sat Oct 03, 2015 10:47 pm
by Land filled with People
The displayed name (on the regional page) is case sensitive ie. LAZOR is all caps, The SOP is a mix, although in the url all letters are lower case.

PostPosted: Sun Oct 04, 2015 12:40 am
by Consular
What land said. I could clarify that a bit better maybe.

PostPosted: Sun Oct 04, 2015 3:31 am
by Petyr
Consular wrote:What land said. I could clarify that a bit better maybe.
Ah, I see. That makes sense, I have seen a couple regions without the first letter capitalized and that made me cringe. Yes I would say that your region's name "will be in the same case (upper/lower) as you enter it."

As it reads now:
Choose a name for your new region! This must be unique, you cannot use the name of any existing regions. Take a moment to ensure the spelling is correct, and keep in mind that region names are case sensitive.
Because it talks about being a unique name in the sentence before it brings up the type of 'case sensitive' I first imagined.

PostPosted: Mon Oct 19, 2015 3:58 pm
by Phillipsburgopolis
When recruiting manually how do you implement the nation name automatically? What is the code for that?

PostPosted: Mon Oct 19, 2015 5:19 pm
by Consular
Phillipsburgopolis wrote:When recruiting manually how do you implement the nation name automatically? What is the code for that?

If you mean make the recipients name appear in the telegram, you use %Nation%

PostPosted: Tue Oct 20, 2015 3:38 pm
by Phillipsburgopolis
Consular wrote:
Phillipsburgopolis wrote:When recruiting manually how do you implement the nation name automatically? What is the code for that?

If you mean make the recipients name appear in the telegram, you use %Nation%

Could you put an example of that in code display? Does it work if you're recruiting manually?

PostPosted: Tue Oct 20, 2015 5:44 pm
by Vancouvia
Phillipsburgopolis wrote:
Consular wrote:If you mean make the recipients name appear in the telegram, you use %Nation%

Could you put an example of that in code display? Does it work if you're recruiting manually?


Yes, it works for all methods of telegramming

PostPosted: Tue Oct 20, 2015 6:46 pm
by Consular
Phillipsburgopolis wrote:
Consular wrote:If you mean make the recipients name appear in the telegram, you use %Nation%

Could you put an example of that in code display? Does it work if you're recruiting manually?

It's exactly as I wrote it above. :P

Code: Select all
%Nation%


Example: If I put "Hi %Nation%!" and telegram you, it will appear to you as "Hi Phillipsburgopolis!"

And Van is correct, it works in all telegrams.

PostPosted: Tue Oct 20, 2015 8:02 pm
by Phillipsburgopolis
Consular wrote:
Phillipsburgopolis wrote:Could you put an example of that in code display? Does it work if you're recruiting manually?

It's exactly as I wrote it above. :P

Code: Select all
%Nation%


Example: If I put "Hi %Nation%!" and telegram you, it will appear to you as "Hi Phillipsburgopolis!"

And Van is correct, it works in all telegrams.
Vancouvia wrote:
Phillipsburgopolis wrote:Could you put an example of that in code display? Does it work if you're recruiting manually?


Yes, it works for all methods of telegramming

ALright thanks guys.

The thing is I tried testing it on other nations of mine and it printed the exact same, so I was a little unsure there.

PostPosted: Wed Oct 28, 2015 5:48 am
by King Nephmir II
Apologies for the delayed post, but for all those who have future inquires on the matter, I felt it important to add something to the help the above nation received.

The %NATION% tag only works when you have more than one recipient in the telegram box (whether that be 2+ individual nations or a mass telegram), or if it's a template. Otherwise it has no effect.

You can also add [nation] tags on either side of it to make it a link.

PostPosted: Wed Oct 28, 2015 3:13 pm
by Consular
Thanks Neph. I'll add that into the guide for clarity.

PostPosted: Mon Nov 16, 2015 8:57 pm
by Kaboomlandia
BTW, the "Executive or not?" section is somewhat obsolete now because of the addition of ROs. ;)