Global Economics and Trade Help Desk and Q&A

[Lamoni]

It would take a very significant amount of coding to add an economic module as you describe to NS, and the site's staff frankly doesn't have the time to put something like that together (especially given that mentors, mods, and admins are all volunteers).

[Lancov]

I've noticed that some storefronts have multiple posts in the beginning of the thread, sometimes a new post for each new section or product of the storefront. Why is this? Seems it would be better to have just one post with everything.

[Lamoni]

It depends on the preferences of the person making the storefront. There is no right or wrong way to go about it, as long as it is functional, and looks professional.

[Yohannes]

I've noticed that some storefronts have multiple posts in the beginning of the thread, sometimes a new post for each new section or product of the storefront. Why is this? Seems it would be better to have just one post with everything.

One reason is because there are too many things to put in a post, so to avoid cluttering the post with too many things (confusing people who are reading the storefront thread), the thread opening poster/owner decided instead to create multiple opening posts for the storefront.

A second reason is the ability to save up for future expansion of content. There is a limit of 60,000 (?) characters for one post. I think it's 60,000 characters, please someone correct me if I am wrong. This happened to me for one of my storefronts. Some storefront owners like to write stuff in details, about the things they roleplay about. Some go into paragraphs, either because they know what they are talking about (or think they know what they are talking about ), or because... it's enjoyable to creatively write out about things related to our nation.

Two good examples are Wolf Armaments and Halcyon Arms. I am sure there are many other good examples out there (sorry if I didn't link more, those two are the ones coming on top of my head just now)

[Cirdia]

I've noticed that some storefronts have multiple posts in the beginning of the thread, sometimes a new post for each new section or product of the storefront. Why is this? Seems it would be better to have just one post with everything.

For storefronts with multiple products that require lengthy descriptions, it's to keep things a bit more organized. Multiple posts may also come to represent different departments or services of a company. for example, some airline storefronts use multiple posts for specific things like their fleet, services, applications, policies, etc.

[Armenda]

I've noticed that some storefronts have multiple posts in the beginning of the thread, sometimes a new post for each new section or product of the storefront. Why is this? Seems it would be better to have just one post with everything.

Y'know how a book has several chapters that divide parts of a story?

Well a storefront has separate posts to keep it all organized and clean.

Plus viewers can take a break after each section, just like after reading a chapter in a book.

[Shwe Tu Colony]

Would it be acceptable to have a small RP sort of introduction to the response when someone orders a product such as, "A messenger delivers the following response from A Company" ?

[Common Territories]

Would it be acceptable to have a small RP sort of introduction to the response when someone orders a product such as, "A messenger delivers the following response from A Company" ?

You can respond however you like to applications/orders, but keep in mind how well you want to make them and how much time you have to do so.

[Maltropia]

Hey folks who read this thread, just so you know, GE&T will be the subject of a one-ish-hour informative Q&A panel in the Roleplay Symposium tomorrow evening. Lamoni and I will be there on the Mentors' Discord server to answer any questions you might have. Even if you haven't questions, you're more than welcome to attend what will hopefully be a very constructive session. For information on the schedule and on the Symposium in general, please see the thread above. Thanks!

[Allanea]

Just a small warning - although I imagine most of you know it already - Photobucket has made it impossible to embed their images anywhere unless you're a paid photobucket subscriber. Storefronts relying on Photobucket for images may face technical issues.

[Lamoni]

Just a small warning - although I imagine most of you know it already - Photobucket has made it impossible to embed their images anywhere unless you're a paid photobucket subscriber. Storefronts relying on Photobucket for images may face technical issues.

And the mods request that you don't use TinyPic, because they recycle their URLs, which means that what might be an image of a tank at one point, will become something else later on (possibly including pr0n). imgur is a solid choice, if you are looking to get away from Photobucket.

[The Order of Takhisis]

Postimage.org is also a good one as well. Updating from the photobucket snafu is going to be a bit time consuming.

[Catlander]

It would take a very significant amount of coding to add an economic module as you describe to NS, and the site's staff frankly doesn't have the time to put something like that together (especially given that mentors, mods, and admins are all volunteers).

Ok, but it would be easy to code a new section (something like the Telegram) into every nation, sending or reciving NS money to/from another nation agreed in GT&A forum before, i think...

[Lamoni]

It would take a very significant amount of coding to add an economic module as you describe to NS, and the site's staff frankly doesn't have the time to put something like that together (especially given that mentors, mods, and admins are all volunteers).

Ok, but it would be easy to code a new section (something like the Telegram) into every nation, sending or reciving NS money to/from another nation agreed in GT&A forum before, i think...

No, no it would not be easy. As I said earlier, the site staff are all volunteers, and such an undertaking would take considerable time and effort.

[Reploid Productions]

CAPTAIN BUZZKILL IS HERE TO DISAPPOINT THE DAY!

it would be easy to code

No. No it would not. Please do not presume to understand how the site is coded (a real hatchet job at that, given the game was first coded in late 2002 and is not built around a database,) or that $idea would be a quick/easy coding job. Furthermore, Technical suggestions belong in the Technical forum.

CAPTAIN BUZZKILL, AWAAAAAAAAAAY!


~Evil Forum Empress Rep Prod the Ninja Mod
~She who wields the Banhammer; master of the mighty moderation no-dachi Kiritateru Teikoku

[Shwe Tu Colony]

Just a small warning - although I imagine most of you know it already - Photobucket has made it impossible to embed their images anywhere unless you're a paid photobucket subscriber. Storefronts relying on Photobucket for images may face technical issues.

And the mods request that you don't use TinyPic, because they recycle their URLs, which means that what might be an image of a tank at one point, will become something else later on (possibly including pr0n). imgur is a solid choice, if you are looking to get away from Photobucket.

Should Picresize be okay?

[Lamoni]

That appears to be a picture resizer. I'm not aware of any image hosting that that site does.

[Stormwrath]

That appears to be a picture resizer. I'm not aware of any image hosting that that site does.

Plus I think you can resize your images thru Imgur if you want to refine how larger or smaller it should be.

[Prosorusiya]

Reworking my Storefront: https://forum.nationstates.net/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=420268

Any thoughts? Gorsky-Avia really wasn't getting much response run primarily as an airline, so I've decided to reemphasize the companies Charter\Wet Lease programs, offering the Tu-154 fleet (which I got through an arrangement that involved shared resources and dividing up a larger batch of aircraft anyways).

I figure that, while there is a lot more competition in the airline field, there are fewer companies offer aircraft for charter\lease, and that with how short-lived many airlines on NS are renting out planes might be a more profitable business than trying to compete with the big guys in the field. There are always new airline piping up, and I figured offering half the fleet for charter\lease would net more customers and might even be cheaper for some start-up airlines to boot. Even people looking for military transports might be able to charter aircraft for troop movements.

I am planning on keeping my domestic (Russian) roots, of course, only adjusting them to better fit the actual Aeroflot routes rather than the fictional ones I have now. I'd keep the ticket app too, naturally, but since it is\was seldom used it would mostly be for fluff.

[Cirdia]

Reworking my Storefront: https://forum.nationstates.net/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=420268

Any thoughts? Gorsky-Avia really wasn't getting much response run primarily as an airline, so I've decided to reemphasize the companies Charter\Wet Lease programs, offering the Tu-154 fleet (which I got through an arrangement that involved shared resources and dividing up a larger batch of aircraft anyways).

I figure that, while there is a lot more competition in the airline field, there are fewer companies offer aircraft for charter\lease, and that with how short-lived many airlines on NS are renting out planes might be a more profitable business than trying to compete with the big guys in the field. There are always new airline piping up, and I figured offering half the fleet for charter\lease would net more customers and might even be cheaper for some start-up airlines to boot. Even people looking for military transports might be able to charter aircraft for troop movements.

I am planning on keeping my domestic (Russian) roots, of course, only adjusting them to better fit the actual Aeroflot routes rather than the fictional ones I have now. I'd keep the ticket app too, naturally, but since it is\was seldom used it would mostly be for fluff.

Charter and wet lease options are a good addition, but given the general lack of knowledge most players have on how airlines work, it might only be an attractive prospect for players who know what you're talking about. Most people just skip to the applications right away without reading much about what they're applying for aside from that it's an airline and they want you to serve their destination. The NS airline industry is currently somewhat volatile with many start-ups claiming to be the best and serving hundreds of unlisted destinations, but without any actual proof to back it up.

There was once a time when GE&T had a solid, vibrant airline industry with well-written storefronts and stiff competition. Today, many of those airlines that were pillars of the industry had gone quiet, defunct, or unattended. Two of my own major airline storefronts had gone silent, with only Cirdiana Airways being my active airline. If you'd like to help break the lull the NS airline industry has fallen into, you're more than welcome to do so and I'll be happy to assist you as well.

I thought of setting up a leasing company myself, but didn't go through with it since there's not much player awareness on how it works, plus a lot of the solid aircraft manufacturing storefronts that lineart their own aircraft are inactive. There are still a few open, but I can't say they have the quality as many simply rip-off models from Boeing, Airbus, Embraer, etc. If you would be interested in opening a leasing company, I would be willing to sell you newly-manufactured aircraft from Avethera, my aircraft manufacturing storefront.

[Prosorusiya]

I quite like my current fleet for some of the reasons you listed... a lot of pesudo-Boeing & Airbus equipment out there, and I kind of like the Soviet flavor of things... they did aircraft a bit differently, and in someways more appealing to NS potential clients: the Tu-154 for example can operate from some pretty spartan airfields and is one of the fastest airliners out there, always a plus for less realistically minded aircraft renters. If I need to expand the fleet, though, I'll definitely be in the market for lower priced airliners. If all goes well, that order could be headed your way very soon, I always appreciate making new business deals with companies as it helps makes my nation feel more like it's part of a complete, real world.

I have noted the lack of well done airlines in NS as well, and I generally I tried to avoid there downfalls by selling tickets to flights rather than actually connecting to fictional airports on NS. That kills off the temptation to fly everywhere, and realism with ranges\geography that... bug me at least, but it didn't seem to go over particularly well with the buyers. After all, not everybody does quite so many character based\high realism stuff as I do.

Edit: https://forum.nationstates.net/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=420268&p=32288309#p32288309

Is this format a bit clearer for potential customers?

[West Phoenicia]

As there are so many pages to scan through. Is it acceptable to have a post from West Phoenicia describing the business and industries i wish to acquire to have the business suggest to me.

Or would that be considered slam or not a valid area to leave a post?

[Maltropia]

As there are so many pages to scan through. Is it acceptable to have a post from West Phoenicia describing the business and industries i wish to acquire to have the business suggest to me.

Or would that be considered slam or not a valid area to leave a post?

Yeah, absolutely that's something you can do. It just depends on how you present it. There was, a few years ago, a brief popularity spike of national investment boards and whatnot trying to entice foreign industry, and I still run a thread like that which brings together all sorts of foreign businesses; even ones which don't have storefronts. You could also make it into a "Nation seeks Automotive Manufacturer" sort of thing, but when you're turning it into a tender thread it ought to be a bit more specific in its needs (e.g. whether local employment and suppliers are important; maybe an explanation of why you need it).

[Allanea]

Would there be an interest in a storefront/company that provides security guard services (NOT a PMC in the conventional sense), from unarmed security guards, to bouncers, to armed security and paramilitary security for oil plants etc.?

[Cirdia]

Would there be an interest in a storefront/company that provides security guard services (NOT a PMC in the conventional sense), from unarmed security guards, to bouncers, to armed security and paramilitary security for oil plants etc.?

I vaguely remember seeing something like that before in 2013/2014. It didn't flourish though and was plagued by un-business-like replies.