NationStates Modern Tech Advice and Assistance Thread

[Ghant]

NSMT Advice and Assistance Thread
Written by a group of like-minded MTers and other RPers!
(Special thanks to everyone who contributed to the creation of this thread)
To discuss and contribute thoughts, head to NSMT on Discord.
MT Community Discussion Thread | RP Questions? Ask Here! | RP Think Tank

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This thread originated as a place resources related to Modern Technology (MT) roleplaying could be assembled in one convenient location, from a glossary of terms, to guides and discussion regarding these resources. As such, this thread seeks to gather the perspectives of individual roleplayers and regional communities regarding their understandings of various terms, and any roleplaying guides that they can offer for the betterment of the wider MT RP community here on NS.

In addition to this thread and the Community Discussion Thread, a Discord channel has been established to further facilitate discussion on the aforementioned topics, as well as an IRC channel on Espernet.

Several II Mentors who focus on MT roleplay are also available to answer questions, either those posted in this thread or addressed to them via telegram. The Mentors are fully willing to offer advice and assistance (you can also contact me, the thread OP).

Rules

There are a few rules that players have to keep in mind while participating in this thread. Firstly, this is not a chat thread, so please keep it to a minimum. Any disruptive behavior will not be tolerated. Please respect your fellow players’ opinions.

The point of this thread is to encourage discourse and improve communication within the MT Community. Lively discussion is both anticipated and encouraged, but please keep things civil and within NationStates Site Rules at all times.

Advertisements for MT regions are permitted in the Community Discussion Thread, provided I am contacted in advance and have given my approval.

Glossary of Used Terminology in the Modern Tech Community
(alphabetical order)

Many of you would probably ask the reason for outlining certain concepts shared among members of the MT community. After all, “Modern Tech” would refer to technologies that are available as of the present day. But there should be consideration that some MTers aren’t aware of such concepts, and so as to inform them of these, this glossary will serve that very purpose.

Alliance - this refers to a treaty agreed upon by certain nation-states, often with the parties pledging to support each other on certain matters. It may be established through bilateral or multilateral treaties.

Hard MT - A brand of MT that consists of a very ”realistic” approach to roleplay, often within the constraints of what exists in the real world.

NS ‘Alliance’ - An alliance that consists of nations from various regions, often consisting of similar ideologies, government types and political goals.

Supranational Organization - An organization that may be not necessarily an alliance, but may consist of nations from various regions.

Closed Roleplaying Group - a group with a shared canon and continuity that is exclusive to members. In the context of MT, this would refer to regions. See also Closed World.

Closed World - a world exclusive to a particular region or group. See also Closed Roleplaying Group.

Intergovernmental Organization - an international body that serves as a forum for dialogue between nation-states. Its membership often includes most if not all nations located in the world. A real life example would be the United Nations.

Left-Right Spectrum - formally known as the Left-Right Political Spectrum, it is the most common method of determining the political position and ideology of a certain individual or political group. Left-wing politics believes that social inequality is an injustice that needs to be solved, while Right-wing politics believes that it is a natural and inevitable part of society.

NS Earth - the in-character world that all open MT regions are assumed to exist in unless otherwise stated (see Closed Roleplaying Group). Players controlling nations within the purview of NS Earth generally have access to unlimited amounts of resources and capital for the state to utilize. See also Open World.

NS Pop - common reference for Nationstates population, in which a nation ICly uses the population figures found on the nation account.

Open World - the region is a part of the greater “NS Earth” and roleplays may exist between members of one MT region and another, assuming both are in open-world regions. See also NS Earth.

Reality Emulation Spectrum - a method of determining how much of the real world an MTer may emulate.

Regional Alliance - an IC alliance that is based upon membership in a given region.

RP Pop - An IC nation population that is decided by the player regardless of what their nation’s “NS Pop” is. Often found in MT regions that value realistic national population figures.

Semi-Open World - also called a Semi-Closed World, is a region that allows roleplay and worldbuilding with nations in other regions provided it does not affect said region beyond the scope of the nation’s canon.

Soft MT - A brand of MT that doesn’t adhere to the pace of development of modern technology in the real world. Instead, existing technologies may be implemented at a desired point in time as long as it is consistent with canon. Compare with Hard MT.

Helpful Guide Threads for MT RP
(feel free to suggest more) (a google doc version can be found here)

General Information:
Welcome to International Incidents

International Incidents Guide
(Check here for guides that might not be listed in this thread OP)

International Incidents Information Desk

The International Incidents Stickies

Un-Official Guide to Nationstates Terms

Roleplaying [Meta]:
How to Avoid Being a Novice (by New Azura)

A Theory of Roleplay: Creativity and Common Sense (by Kagetora)

A Guide to Story Making (by Anagonia)

War and Storytelling: A Guide to Roleplaying War (by the Macabees)

The Mechanics of Roleplaying (by New Azura)

Starting a Thread (by Kagetora)

The Writer’s Workshop (by New Azura)

World-building and Topical Advice:
Handbook For Roleplaying Diplomacy (by Monavia)

A Basic Guide to Roleplay Alliances (by Milograd)

A Brief Guide to Roleplaying Genocide (by Monavia)

A Guide to the NS-Nation (by Deus)

On RPing a Communist System (by Abruzi)

The Ostro's Guide to Communiques (by Ostronopolis)

A Realistic Guide to Diplomacy and Projecting State Power (by El Cuscatlan)

RP Population Realism Guide (by Radiatia)

The Argument Against Calculators (by Questers)

Guide to Creating and Selling a Firearm (by Tippercommon)

Guide to Roleplaying Your Foreign Policy (by New Aeyariss)

The OOC Ethics of Being an IC Superpower (by the Macabees)

Military RPing:
The Art of NS War (by Daehanjeiguk)

Asymmetric Warfare Guide (by New Aeyariss)

The Macabees’ Guides on Armored Warefare and Technology (by the Macabees)

Guide: Building Your Military (by the PeoplesFreedom)

Guide to Aerial, Ground and Naval Warfare (by Questers)

Guide to Overlooked Aspects of Warfare (by Automagfreek)

Greater Dienstad International Military Academy (by Lamoni)

Santiago International Defense University (by Axis Alliance)

Guide to Roleplaying Sub-Surface Combat (by Ceneria)

Creating Scenarios For War RP (by New Aeyariss)

Handy Guide To Military Incompetence and Errors (by Allanea)

Guerrilla Warfare - A Primer for Nationstates Players (by Allanea)

Building and Budgeting Your Military (by Aquitayne)

Guide to Military Sustainment/Logistics (by Allanea)

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Discussion Topics
(listed in chronological order)
(please feel free to TG me topic suggestions)

Faulty Intelligence
Torture
Earth Realism
Custom Weapons
Cross-Tech Roleplaying
Non-Human Races
Multiple Canons
Alternate and Puppet Nations
Multi-Regional RP Canon
OOC Ethics of Being an IC Superpower (by Macabees)
First vs. Third Person Pronouns
IC Passage of Time
Troop Deployment Times
Travel Posts
RPing via News Posts
Comedic Posts
Handbook For Roleplaying Diplomacy (by Monavia)
Writing Communiques (by Monavia)
Nation vs. Character Roleplaying
Creating Mythology and Religion (by Prydania)
How to Implement and Enforce a Code of Conduct (by Havensky)
Guide to God-Mods (by Inyourfaceistan)

[Achesia]

Tag so i can keep up with this thread.

[Common Territories]

Tag so i can keep up with this thread.

Please use the Bookmark function. Tagging is a form of spamming.

[Achesia]

Tag so i can keep up with this thread.

Please use the Bookmark function. Tagging is a form of spamming.

I really dont prefer to use the bookmark function as I exclusivly use "View your Posts" function. But to each his own.

[Common Territories]

Please use the Bookmark function. Tagging is a form of spamming.

I really dont prefer to use the bookmark function as I exclusivly use "View your Posts" function. But to each his own.

To each his own until you get smacked for tag spamming. Im just trying to let people like you know that the bookmark function is easier and doesn't violate the rules like tag spamming does.

[Ghant]

As the thread OP, I don't mind. The important thing is that people are making use of the thread with the intention of using the resources included.

[The Nation of Ceneria]

"It's alive!"
In all seriousness, this has been a long time coming, and I'm very excited to see this get off the ground. Thanks to everyone who put in work on this, especially Ghant!

[New Aeyariss]

About time it went up !

[Ghant]

"It's alive!"
In all seriousness, this has been a long time coming, and I'm very excited to see this get off the ground. Thanks to everyone who put in work on this, especially Ghant!

It's alive! Thank you to everyone who suggested additional guides for the thread OP, which has been updated with all of the suggestions. In addition, the authors of the respective guides are credited to the right of each guide, and a separate category for military guides has been added.

[Valaran]

Nice Thread. I appreciate this being made.

[Midnight Indo]

Quality Thread

[Ghant]

Hello all,

I would like to present to you a new "program" if you will called "the Topic of the Week." This involves myself as the thread OP presenting a topic related to MT RP, and providing some insight and perspective into it. Discussion and sharing ideas is highly encouraged!

So the first Topic of the Week is...

Faulty Intelligence

This is basically information that is gathered by governments and military enterprises that is either incorrect, false or somehow corrupted, whether that's deliberate on the part of the agency collecting the intelligence, or by accident as a result of carelessness or some sort of a mistake.

The most famous example of Faulty Intelligence in a contemporary context is probably the intelligence that the Bush Administration used to justify the Iraq War. An excellent New York Times article on this debacle can be found here.

As far as Faulty Intelligence in MT RP on NS is concerned, I rarely see it, and when it's done it's often done by accident by the writer. I'm presently involved in a conflict RP called Titanomachy, and the matter of Faulty Intelligence came up in a recent post of mine. Essentially, I had characters discussing intelligence related to the military maneuverings of their allies, but the information being presented and discussed at the meeting was not entirely correct. The writer behind this allied nation naturally assumed this was a mistake by me!

Yet, it was anything but. Faulty Intelligence in military RPs isn't necessarily a bad thing. It's far easier to write your governments, intelligence agencies and characters as having what I call "perfect information," where planning their next moves seem clear based on the information that they have access to. It's certainly easy to do that if you as the writer have access to all this information just by reading all of the other writers' posts in the thread, and most writers want to present their IC institutions as being reliable and efficient.

From a storytelling perspective, however, Faulty Intelligence can be a great deal of fun and create interesting opportunities that didn't previously exist. Decisions that lead to war, or affect the outcomes of battles and diplomacy based upon intentionally writing "Faulty Intelligence" adds a certain degree of plausibility. After all, IC governments, intelligence agencies and characters in MT ought to be as flawed and prone to human error as those found in real life, and RPing "Faulty Intelligence," whether it is known as such ICly or not, is a great way to achieve that.

So what do you all think? Do you have experience with Faulty Intelligence in your RPs? How is it usually presented and how is it usually received by your fellow writers?

[New Aeyariss]

@Ghant:

I fully agree that faulty intelligence may be a fun thing to consider within a story, especially using repercussions of the Tonkin incident as an example. Sadly however I noticed that very few people actually pay attention to intelligence at all, often ignoring this aspect, which I honestly feel sad about, considering it's story-creating capabilities.

On the other hand I feel like this idea is often coupled with the military concepts which Americans call "C3D2" and Russians "Maskirovka". If measured by that, then yes, I encounted the situation in multiple RPs. I remember that Hayesalian forces during the famed Deijima incident were operating on mistaken assumptions of both Kojiro's foreign policy goals and confusion caused by deception measures employed by the Nifonese.

The concept was also used in one RP where a Nifonese proxy militia faced in battle a Jihadist force and obliterated it utterly. One of jihadist brigades suffered technical difficulties and was delayed from the battle, which de facto saved it. Shortly after a Nifonese intelligence official found a man wishing to defect to the jihadist - thus he gave him a letter and an entire car of gold, telling him to wait for leader of said force there. Subsequently, the leader of the jihadists received an anonymous tip about a spy being present in that area. He arrested the courier, who eagerly shown them the letter claiming that the gold was a payment for an earlier agreement between the brigade's commander and Nifonese intelligence (which it was not).

Thus faulty intelligence provoked by Gunpeitai was a basis for a civil war inside the said faction.

[Allanea]

Is it worth it to link my other military guides?

[Ghant]

Is it worth it to link my other military guides?

Absolutely! TG them to me or post the links here and I will upload them to the thread OP.

[Inyourfaceistan]

I will throw up a guide about controlling ground versus planting a flag when I return in October.

Maybe a guide about SEAD vs DEAD too...

[Ghant]

I fully agree that faulty intelligence may be a fun thing to consider within a story, especially using repercussions of the Tonkin incident as an example. Sadly however I noticed that very few people actually pay attention to intelligence at all, often ignoring this aspect, which I honestly feel sad about, considering it's story-creating capabilities.

I think it often depends on how it's presented and varies based on the reader. I know that some readers find the intel easier to understand if it's in the form of technical writing and military communiques, while others prefer it in the form of narrative. This sort of thing can be addressed with knowing who you are writing with, or just asking them something like "I'm about to write a post where I present intel, do you have a preference with how it's written and presented?" After all, OOC communication is important, as it is less likely to result in OOC misunderstandings (which, in my experience, tend to kill RPs and can burn bridges between roleplayers).

[Ghant]

Hello all,

Welcome to the second addition of the MT Topic of the Week! The Topic of the Week is...

Torture

I think most people who would read this thread know what torture is. However, portraying torture in RP is another matter entirely, and can be quite challenging indeed!

There are two links I'd like to provide that talk about torture in greater detail. The first one is an article from the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy regarding the ethical and philosophical questions raised by torture, which can be found here. The second one is an article by writer Chrys Fey on writing about torture in fiction, found here.

In my time on NS, the most profound scene involving torture that I've ever read was in a thread by New Edom, concerning the trials and tribulations of the Edomite noblewoman Lavinia Nabal. She was arrested and imprisoned for the committing the crime of adultery in her home country, and the prison where she was sent to serve her sentence was mostly a place of psychological torture, not just physical.

So that begs the question then, of why write torture in MT RP. In my opinion, since torture is a very real part of our real world for reasons varying from punishment, interrogation or at the pleasure of the inflictors, so too would it be in a realistic roleplaying setting. People that have power over others can be capable of doing terrible things. In the context of RP, that can serve as a source of drama and character development.

A good example that I'm aware of in fiction is in the ASOIAF series, when Theon undergoes his transformation into Reek at the hands of Ramsay Bolton. Ramsay's brutal and prolonged torture of Theon transforms him, and leads Theon to develop as a character that wouldn't have been possible otherwise. Another example is the SAW film series, where Jigsaw abducts and indirectly tortures his captives in order to get them to overcome their character flaws and teach them lessons about them (not the best example, but it's what comes to mind).

In the past I've written torture as a means of interrogation, punishment and sadism on the part of the torturer, though I've tried to avoid too many details so it doesn't appear to be gratuitous (since the intent is to advance the narrative). In each case the motives are different I'd caution other writers to avoid the pitfall of graphic torture as it could violate site rules (If you're enjoying writing torture scenes in your RPs a bit too much, you might want to restrain yourself before it seems like a fetish).

Have you written scenes of torture before in RP threads? If so, why, and what were the IC circumstances that led to it being committed? How did you go about writing it and what were you trying to convey? Lastly, how did the other writers involved react to it (I've never encountered a negative reaction, but I'm sure at least someone has)?

[Western Pacific Territories]

I myself haven't written about torture, though I have read a couple or so posts of it from New Edom myself. I'd prefer to stay away from RPing that sort of stuff entirely as it, in my opinion it just comes off as just being 'edgy' to the reader. Plus I'd rather not be banned for RPing it in too-explicit detail. But I am interested in seeing if anyone else has.

[Allanea]

Another thing to consider, if you want to write about torture for interrogation specifically, is to read one of the books written by, and for, professional military interrogators, where torture is not usually described, but is sometimes hinted at. The psychological tricks of interrogation should, realistically, be useful whether or not you involve torture.

[The Technocratic Syndicalists]

Have never written about it myself but have been involved with quite a few people who use it on a regular basis.

Personally I like going up against known "torturers" so to speak because it gives me a pretty simple justification for why my military personnel would literally never willingly surrender under any circumstances; they know they'll likely be tortured and probably killed anyways if they do. On the flip side this is also how IC I justify my anti-torture/abuse of prisoners policy; we could care less that it's considered unethical, what we're concerned about is that it would severely discourage enemy soldiers from surrendering once word gets out (which is inevitably will). My military also overwhelmingly prefers SIGINIT to HUMINT so interrogation of captured enemy personnel is generally something that's given a quite low priority, hence why I don't really write or talk about it much.

[Allanea]

I have a very limited understanding of HUMINT, so I just roleplay that my people are bad at it for cultural reasons.

[Allanea]

Or rather, they're bad at source exploitation and infiltration and stuff. They're more or less good at interrogation.

[New Aeyariss]

I actually RPed both torture-less interrogation and used totrute multiple times. I admit that at times I was quite graphic, especially when RPing as Cuscatlan, but that was quite the point. In Cuscatlan your power was measured by force you had on your disposal, and the ruling Junta did everything to demonstrate it. Usually their methods of dealing with opposition were... graphic.

The point there was to, frankly, demonstrate the nature of Cuscatlani junta - a group that is acting for a good goal, however with questionable methods.

[Inyourfaceistan]

Have never written about it myself but have been involved with quite a few people who use it on a regular basis.

Personally I like going up against known "torturers" so to speak because it gives me a pretty simple justification for why my military personnel would literally never willingly surrender under any circumstances; they know they'll likely be tortured and probably killed anyways if they do. On the flip side this is also how IC I justify my anti-torture/abuse of prisoners policy; we could care less that it's considered unethical, what we're concerned about is that it would severely discourage enemy soldiers from surrendering once word gets out (which is inevitably will). My military also overwhelmingly prefers SIGINIT to HUMINT so interrogation of captured enemy personnel is generally something that's given a quite low priority, hence why I don't really write or talk about it much.

Well anyone who tortures any and all enemy prisoners for any reason is just being 1-dimensional and doing it wrong.

It's the dichotomy of "make our life easy, we make yours easy; make our lives hard, you make yours very hard" that is what is more likely to coax a response. While people can RP die-hard fanatics 150% motivated by moral purity who would never peep a word despite insane torture, history proves time and time again that any force will have people who crack under interrogation.

Likewise, "who" gets tortured is also an area that leaves room for development. Inyursta, for example, is unlikely to actually torture any enemy uniformed soldiers. Taking for example the incident with New Hayesalia, the captured enemy soldiers were actually treated quite nice. On the other hand, leftist non-state actors will often get tortured for shitz and giggles simply to punish them for being leftist non-state actors.

HUMINT, SIGINT, ELINT, CYINT, etc. are also not mutually exclusive, and are best utilized in conjunction with one another.