New TG system: Q&A Thread

[[violet]]

A News post is forthcoming! When it lands, this will be the thread where I attempt to answer questions about it.

As per this News post, our new TG system is about to arrive! If you have questions, please ask them here.

[Mahaj]

I don't have a question, I just want to say hooray!

But: How many hours were put into this in the end?

[[violet]]

But: How many hours were put into this in the end?

It would be too scary to estimate.

[PrussianEmpire]

FINALLY!

[Soviet Canuckistan]

Violet, are you Max Barry?

[Astarial]

[violet]!

[ThirteenThirteen147]

Do stamps pay for each mass sending, or do they only pay for each recipient of the mail?

Example: I send a message to all WA Delegates with the Stamp. There are 1335 delegates, do I pay one stamp or 1335?

Edit: Puppet post! The Dourian Embassy Here.

[Solm]

Violet, do you have any information about the api for this? Like, what you were talking about storing one draft that a script could send out. Also, I am a bit worried about %NATION%, as the people who use my welcomer script have this built-in at the moment, and I don't mind paying, but I wouldn't like them to be forced to pay for this feature that they are accustomed to at the moment.

EDIT: Btw, THIS IS AWESOME! Can't wait for the TG system to go live (if you need any beta testing! )

[Aussie Republic]

In the news we were promissed nobody would get any special advantages other than ad removal if they are a donator, but now you're telling us being a donator will give us more advantages with the TG system. Were you lieing to us?

[Linux and the X]

Just to confirm, our current TG box will be transferred, right?

[Milograd]

If you are a World Assembly Delegate or Founder, you'll get:
The ability to send TGs to your own region for free, i.e. with no Telegram Stamps

Does this mean that I'll be able to use all of these features regarding telegram stamps because I am a feeder delegate?

The ability to use the %NATION% token in your message, which automatically expands out to the name of the recipient
The ability to queue TGs for future delivery to nations that don't exist yet, by addressing them to a special group like "New Nations" or "Refounded Nations"

[[violet]]

Do stamps pay for each mass sending, or do they only pay for each recipient of the mail?

Example: I send a message to all WA Delegates with the Stamp. There are 1335 delegates, do I pay one stamp or 1335?

Edit: Puppet post! The Dourian Embassy Here.

To send a Mass TG to a special group or region, it's 1 stamp per recipient. If you wanted to send a TG to everyone in The Rejected Realms (population: 1,823), for example, you would need 1,823 telegram stamps, at a cost of US$1.83. If your message was undeliverable to some of those--e.g. it's a recruitment message and some of the residents have turned on their blocks--then you keep the unused stamps.

[Luna Amore]

In the news we were promissed nobody would get any special advantages other than ad removal if they are a donator, but now you're telling us being a donator will give us more advantages with the TG system. Were you lieing to us?

Actually it hints at pay-for-more-telegram-features in that news post:

Another possibility in the future is a larger inbox for Telegrams. But we will never sell better stats or gameplay bonuses. That would screw things up.

[PrussianEmpire]

Do stamps pay for each mass sending, or do they only pay for each recipient of the mail?

Example: I send a message to all WA Delegates with the Stamp. There are 1335 delegates, do I pay one stamp or 1335?

Edit: Puppet post! The Dourian Embassy Here.

To send a Mass TG to a special group or region, it's 1 stamp per recipient. If you wanted to send a TG to everyone in The Rejected Realms (population: 1,823), for example, you would need 1,823 telegram stamps, at a cost of US$1.83. If your message was undeliverable to some of those--e.g. it's a recruitment message and some of the residents have turned on their blocks--then you keep the unused stamps.

That's unfortunate.

[Individuality-ness]

Does that mean that we're moving from a regular free browser game to a "pay-for-special-features" one? I feel like it's starting to get to be a slippery slope, especially with the new paid features...

[The Dourian Embassy]

To send a Mass TG to a special group or region, it's 1 stamp per recipient. If you wanted to send a TG to everyone in The Rejected Realms (population: 1,823), for example, you would need 1,823 telegram stamps, at a cost of US$1.83. If your message was undeliverable to some of those--e.g. it's a recruitment message and some of the residents have turned on their blocks--then you keep the unused stamps.

Ok, can I set activity requirements for a Delegate mass send? If someone hasn't been on in the last 5 days, for example, I don't want to waste a stamp for a WA campaign.

[PrussianEmpire]

Does that mean that we're moving from a regular free browser game to a "pay-for-special-features" one? I feel like it's starting to get to be a slippery slope, especially with the new paid features...

Yeah...I ain't likin where this is going...

[Unibot III]

Will one's permissions (like if they don't want to receive Recruitment spam etc.) be visible in the API? Just thinking there is going to be a lot of people sticking with their old auto-telegrammers, it sounds like this new system is going to be mod-friendly for people buying the stamps, but people using auto-telegrammers are even more liable than before to get caught telegramming someone they shouldn't have. :/

[Auralia]

I'm a little concerned that mass telegrams cost money. Didn't we agree that paid features would not grant a game advantage?

[[violet]]

Violet, do you have any information about the api for this? Like, what you were talking about storing one draft that a script could send out. Also, I am a bit worried about %NATION%, as the people who use my welcomer script have this built-in at the moment, and I don't mind paying, but I wouldn't like them to be forced to pay for this feature that they are accustomed to at the moment.

EDIT: Btw, THIS IS AWESOME! Can't wait for the TG system to go live (if you need any beta testing! )

Documentation for a new Telegrams API will appear shortly, but bottom-line, you'll be able to continue doing what you've been doing, i.e. delivering non-recruitment TGs automatically via a script, at fairly slow pace (3 TGs per minute). The %NATION% token will work for you--that actually works with any Mass TG, not just the kind you need to buy stamps for.

We don't want to force anyone to pay for things that have previously been free! The goal here is to make everything better for everyone. The new TG system offers features that you might think are worth paying for, but if you want to stick with what you've got, that's fine, too.

[Belhorizon]

Finally!
I feel like paying you people 5$ just to thank you!

Too bad that's not allowed in Lebanon

[Auralia]

Violet, do you have any information about the api for this? Like, what you were talking about storing one draft that a script could send out. Also, I am a bit worried about %NATION%, as the people who use my welcomer script have this built-in at the moment, and I don't mind paying, but I wouldn't like them to be forced to pay for this feature that they are accustomed to at the moment.

EDIT: Btw, THIS IS AWESOME! Can't wait for the TG system to go live (if you need any beta testing! )

Documentation for a new Telegrams API will appear shortly, but bottom-line, you'll be able to continue doing what you've been doing, i.e. delivering non-recruitment TGs automatically via a script, at fairly slow pace (3 TGs per minute). The %NATION% token will work for you--that actually works with any Mass TG, not just the kind you need to buy stamps for.

We don't want to force anyone to pay for things that have previously been free! The goal here is to make everything better for everyone. The new TG system offers features that you might think are worth paying for, but if you want to stick with what you've got, that's fine, too.

So I could still use my NationStates AutoTelegram program, then, without spending any money, so long as I made the necessary modifications? Can I still use it for WA campaigns, in particular?

[Northrop-Grumman]

I do love the notification I get when I try to check the price for 999999999 stamps in the store.

[Soviet Canuckistan]

The end is nigh! The end is nigh!

[Tim-Opolis]

I'm a tad concerned that the Pay to Play (with Really Nice Enhanced Features that are WAY better than the Free Ones) System may start going too far, but hopefully I'm just being paranoid and our wonderful site won't go the ways of many before it.

I also, *really* do not like the stamps. I can't see myself ever paying for them, or having any purpose for them now. The price of the stamps means that one WA Campaign would cost about 1.50$ to do, with this fashion. I don't see any reason to even use it when you can just run an AutoTelegram and get it done. It would take longer, sure, but at least you would save money. Regarding these, I'll stick to my AutoScript.

I'm also not seeing anything regarding Recruitment becoming easier. In fact, I see it potentially becoming harder if someone now has to click that their Telegram is a recruiting Telegram, each time they send. I'll wait for the system to go live, though, before criticizing this too much.

Anyways, hopefully this system is all we expected it to be and NS won't turn into a Game where players have to Pay to get Advantages. At the moment, Postmaster-General seems to be giving a pretty big advantage.