New player - Questions about Nation Interaction

[Light Within]

Hello everyone,

This is my first day on NS. Forgive me if this thread doesn't belong in this part of the forum. I find the game extremely intriguing. Although I have read some guides about it, I'd like to ask the veterans for some basic questions.

What I care about mostly is the multiplayer facet of the game. How does interaction with other players work within the game? I read that there is some kind of pseudo-military concept about raiding regions, which is cool, even though I'm not into war. I also noticed that some regions require you to follow certain policies. But what about other player-interaction activities that directly affect your nation? I read some wonderful RP announcements about new airports, TV shows etc., and I love RPing, but how can a nation directly affect another? Commerce, trade, tourism etc.? Can players make agreements with each other about potential nation cooperation? Or is it that all interaction is only mental in the forums?

Thank you

[An Amphibious Equation]

Hello everyone,

This is my first day on NS. Forgive me if this thread doesn't belong in this part of the forum. I find the game extremely intriguing. Although I have read some guides about it, I'd like to ask the veterans for some basic questions.

What I care about mostly is the multiplayer facet of the game. How does interaction with other players work within the game? I read that there is some kind of pseudo-military concept about raiding regions, which is cool, even though I'm not into war. I also noticed that some regions require you to follow certain policies. But what about other player-interaction activities that directly affect your nation? I read some wonderful RP announcements about new airports, TV shows etc., and I love RPing, but how can a nation directly affect another? Commerce, trade, tourism etc.? Can players make agreements with each other about potential nation cooperation? Or is it that all interaction is only mental in the forums?

Thank you

The interaction is all abstract. The only things that can effect your nation by others is regional mechanics. A founder, Executive Delegate, or any Regional Officers with Border Control ability can eject or banject you. Not always related to Military Gameplay, but the latter makes use of the same regional mechanics built into the games code.

Outside of Roleplaying, most player interaction with Gameplay is through regional or interregional politics and Military Gameplay. Even if neither is your cup of tea, the communities of various regions still make up the rest of that, with culture, RMB banter, Offsite forums, Offsite communication mediums, and media. Finally, of course this forum!

NS is full of communities, and the players make them up and the fun that entails under basic categories of differing activities (Check the other forums on-site for the rest)

[Light Within]

Thank you for the reply! The community sure is very active and of high quality in this game. That's rare in mmo games. Can I ask for some examples of "regional or interregional politics"? I am in the process of choosing a region, and I don't really know what should I pick. Everything is still quite vague.

[Canton Empire]

Thank you for the reply! The community sure is very active and of high quality in this game. That's rare in mmo games. Can I ask for some examples of "regional or interregional politics"? I am in the process of choosing a region, and I don't really know what should I pick. Everything is still quite vague.

Pick any one of the GCRs--Game Created Regions. They are the Feeders (The North, West, East, South, and The Pacific.), the Sinkers (Balder, Osiris, Lazarus, and the Rejected Realms), and the (weaksauce) Warzones (Warzone Africa, Europe, Sandbox, Australia, and Asia)

As an added bonus, Europeia is a highly realistic political region.

In your feeders and sinkers, plus Europeia, you'll get a good feel for top notch regional and interregional politics.

[Kanglia]

First off, welcome to the game!
Secondly, as far as choosing a region goes, you may find the GCR's a little distasteful(personally I like them, despite not being involved in one at the moment) Europeia, as mentioned by Canton, is also a pretty good option, not to advertise but I'd also like to think my region(The Union of Democratic States) is also a pretty good region if you want true political action. However, depending on how far you want to go in the inner workings of the game(example, Raiding/Defending) you may find that a Game Created Region is best for you.
Hope this helped some, & feel free to ask any other questions on this thread, we don't bite(well, some of us do, but they're nice I promise!)

[The North Polish Union]

Thank you for the reply! The community sure is very active and of high quality in this game. That's rare in mmo games. Can I ask for some examples of "regional or interregional politics"? I am in the process of choosing a region, and I don't really know what should I pick. Everything is still quite vague.

I personally feel that regions of 100+ people are too big and its harder to keep up with what's happening and engage in the regional community in a meaningful way in those regions. Of course, if you like large communities and the broader social element involved in that that's fine, but if you don't, don't feel obligated to stay in a big region. If that's the case search around a bit and find a mid-sized region (ones with 50-100 nations IMO do the best at combine a higher amount of activity without being too small/cliqueish) that you like. There's probably at least one decent-sized region for almost any sort of interest.

[Fauxia]

Thank you for the reply! The community sure is very active and of high quality in this game. That's rare in mmo games. Can I ask for some examples of "regional or interregional politics"? I am in the process of choosing a region, and I don't really know what should I pick. Everything is still quite vague.

I personally feel that regions of 100+ people are too big and its harder to keep up with what's happening and engage in the regional community in a meaningful way in those regions. Of course, if you like large communities and the broader social element involved in that that's fine, but if you don't, don't feel obligated to stay in a big region. If that's the case search around a bit and find a mid-sized region (ones with 50-100 nations IMO do the best at combine a higher amount of activity without being too small/cliqueish) that you like. There's probably at least one decent-sized region for almost any sort of interest.

100+ nation regions are fine due to inactivity. Generally smaller can have lots of inactivity

[Light Within]

Thanks for the replies guys. I haven't joined a region still and that's why I probably don't get how politics between nations work, since there is no direct effect (trading etc). I mean, what else do you do except managing issues?

[Swith Witherward]

Thanks for the replies guys. I haven't joined a region still and that's why I probably don't get how politics between nations work, since there is no direct effect (trading etc). I mean, what else do you do except managing issues?

There are a host of things you can do outside of Gameplay (beyond answering issues, joining the WA, etc). For a general overview... a few places for nation-interaction:

• Factbooks & National Information (F&NI: viewforum.php?f=23) There are a lot of possibilities here. Embassy exchanges are always interesting, IMHO, and a good way to network with other players.
  
• Nation States (NS: viewforum.php?f=4) and International Incidents (II: viewforum.php?f=5) are the nation-based roleplay forums. This involves everything from peaceful banquets to all-out war.
  
• Global Economics and Trade (GE&T: viewforum.php?f=6) is a thriving community. It's mostly storefronts that players can create to sell things that your nation might want.
  
• NS Sports (NSS: viewforum.php?f=7) is where players can send national teams into sporting competitions.

Of course, there are N&I Mentors that can help you figure out what you'd like to do. You can see a listing here: memberlist.php?mode=group&g=12

Raiding/Defending is a metagame within the overarching game. You do not play as your nation, nor does it involve your nation raiding or defending another nation or region. It's player-based. You would sink your main account into a raider or defender region and then create "puppet accounts" to use while raiding or defending. There are several good orgs out there, depending upon which "side" you want to be on. If raiding sounds interesting, look into The Black Hawks (https://www.nationstates.net/region=the_black_hawks) as they do teach the mechanics without much political overtone.

Swith
P2TM RP Mentor

[Lands of Anarchy]

Thanks for the replies guys. I haven't joined a region still and that's why I probably don't get how politics between nations work, since there is no direct effect (trading etc). I mean, what else do you do except managing issues?

You can't do anything else with your nation itself outside of roleplaying (although it is important to put your nation into a region you like, as many regions require you to have a nation in their region to participate in their politics, such as voting and legislative processes.) However, as mentioned earlier, there is a lot more to do, such as the aforementioned "Gameplay."

[An Amphibious Equation]

Thanks for the replies guys. I haven't joined a region still and that's why I probably don't get how politics between nations work, since there is no direct effect (trading etc). I mean, what else do you do except managing issues?

There are a host of things you can do outside of Gameplay (beyond answering issues, joining the WA, etc). For a general overview... a few places for nation-interaction:

• Factbooks & National Information (F&NI: viewforum.php?f=23) There are a lot of possibilities here. Embassy exchanges are always interesting, IMHO, and a good way to network with other players.
  
• Nation States (NS: viewforum.php?f=4) and International Incidents (II: viewforum.php?f=5) are the nation-based roleplay forums. This involves everything from peaceful banquets to all-out war.
  
• Global Economics and Trade (GE&T: viewforum.php?f=6) is a thriving community. It's mostly storefronts that players can create to sell things that your nation might want.
  
• NS Sports (NSS: viewforum.php?f=7) is where players can send national teams into sporting competitions.

Of course, there are N&I Mentors that can help you figure out what you'd like to do. You can see a listing here: memberlist.php?mode=group&g=12

Raiding/Defending is a metagame within the overarching game. You do not play as your nation, nor does it involve your nation raiding or defending another nation or region. It's player-based. You would sink your main account into a raider or defender region and then create "puppet accounts" to use while raiding or defending. There are several good orgs out there, depending upon which "side" you want to be on. If raiding sounds interesting, look into The Black Hawks (https://www.nationstates.net/region=the_black_hawks) as they do teach the mechanics without much political overtone.

Swith
P2TM RP Mentor

There's far more than just Military Gameplay, in regards to Gameplay. >_>

[Sunset]

I read some wonderful RP announcements about new airports, TV shows etc., and I love RPing, but how can a nation directly affect another? Commerce, trade, tourism etc.? Can players make agreements with each other about potential nation cooperation? Or is it that all interaction is only mental in the forums?

Thank you

The answer to your final question is pretty complex. Inside the various NationStates Roleplaying Forums (Factbooks and National Information, NationStates, International Incidents) the rule is Creative Consensual Collaborative Cooperation. If you would like to interact with another Nation you would contact the Player of that Nation (Nation is seperate from Player in this - our Portal to the Multiverse forum is for roleplaying that doesn't involve one's Nation, which can be virtually anything one might imagine. Talk to Swith for more details) and propose a course of action or event that both would write the story for. As you've seen, this can be anything from a television show to military confrontation. The possibilities are endless but the first rule is that only you can decide if it affects your nation - generally by participating. Some RPs might be very complex with rules of their own and some might be very free-form. Sometimes they are directly confrontational with the imaginary spoils being the conquest of the nation or they might be silly and fun. Or both. But the single rule is that no one can force you to accept what someone else 'does' to your nation; Only you can decide what happens to your nation.

There's a good number of reasons for this rule but the reverse of that is that no one has to play with you either. That suggests our goal for a roleplaying environment: Creative Consensual Collaborative Cooperation.

Past that there are a -lot- of different ways to participate in the community. Some people like to dip their toes in everything while others like to concentrate on a single era or timeframe. Some prefer to stick with character interaction while others adore the idea of grand strategy and the nation as its own greater entity. My suggestion is to look around, find a group of people you enjoy playing with - a region, an IRC or Discord channel, a timeframe (modern, future, past?) and then settle in and see where you have the most fun!

[Light Within]

Thanks to all the great responses. I love the community of this game. For starters, with my limited time, I'll RP as much as I can via telegrams and less on the forums and we'll see where it will go. Keep having quality fun!

[Fauxia]

Thanks to all the great responses. I love the community of this game. For starters, with my limited time, I'll RP as much as I can via telegrams and less on the forums and we'll see where it will go. Keep having quality fun!

Why don't you RP with a region?