NationStates Issues **SPOILER ALERT**

[Jutsa]

what we need now:

190.2, 274.4/5, 394.3, 488.3, 527.2, 717.3, 760.3, 765.5, 788.2, 788.5, possibly 837.5/6, possibly 850.4, 851.4, possibly 858.5, 875.3, possibly 880.4, 884.4, 910.3, all of 911, who knows how much of 914, all of 917, 928.2, all of 952 and 956,
and validities for 411.1/2, 523.3, 610.4, 848.2/3, and all of 896... I forget exactly why for that last one.

[Deutsches Ubereich]

949 option 3
“That won’t be enough!” booms General Engelbert Cesternino, entering your office with a firing squad behind him. “We can’t afford to hold back. At this point, these inmates should be considered enemy combatants… and will be dealt with extreme prejudice. Soldiers are waiting at the ready. Just give the order.”

[Jutsa]

Updated! Many thanks.

[Orientis Noverai]

#935 options 3 and 4 uses fixed names Rosalia Cheyney and Xanatos Scheer respectively, I think.

[Fauxia]

#935 options 3 and 4 uses fixed names Rosalia Cheyney and Xanatos Scheer respectively, I think.

Presumably, those are the names the random machine gave you

[Shen Yun]

958
Pay No Attention to That Donor Behind the Curtain!


The Issue
After several Party MPs and Cabinet Ministers refused to disclose their donor lists, an anonymous government source released the lists on the internet. To nobody’s surprise, the donors included several high society elites and foreign officials.

The Debate
1.“The fact that it took a leak to get this information out to the public is shameful in itself,” states corruption watchdog Joseph Cruz. “Politicians shouldn’t get to hide who is financing them. We the people deserve to know who’s filling the pockets of our politicians, especially during elections. That way we can see who’s really pulling the strings of our politicians! We, the people, demand full transparency from our elected officials.”


2.“What about my right to privacy?” replies a woman wearing a fake mustache who looks suspiciously like the Supreme Leader of Blackacre. “Ever since those donor lists were released, I’ve been harassed to the point that I’ve had to change my Twitcher handle! There’s a reason why these lists are kept secret. Please, Leader, I implore you to protect the identities of all political donors.”


3.“Imagine how much less corruption there’d be if we simply regulated political donations,” suggests Otohime King, a political science professor. “Money tends to corrupt, and absolute money corrupts absolutely. If we only allowed small donations of less than one hundred Dragons from private Shen Yunian citizens, we’d have politicians who are beholden to the people, not the bigwigs.”


4.“I think the real problem here is how this ‘source’ was able to get this information,” comments your Public Safety Minister, who frequently reminds you to change the password of your government accounts. “We’ve gone all digital these days. That makes it all too easy to drop terabytes of top secret information on WikiSpills, or walk out with military documents on a USB drive. It’s time we went back to paper records under lock and key to store confidential government information. The environmentalists might not like it, but I’d like to see a leaker walk out here with a big filing cabinet!”


5.“The problem isn’t how, but why and who,” rebuts Winston Tightlips, your most loyal staffer. “We need to weed out any leakers and staffers who are disloyal to you. Monitor the communications of every government employee and have them sign loyalty pledges. The guilty party will have no choice but to confess!”


Issue by The Free Secular Federation of Nation of Quebec

Edited by Nation of Quebec

[Nice-Things]

959
A-Major Debate


The Issue
One of your advisers was caught referring to music education as “non-essential curriculum”. Her comment has struck a chord, resulting in a chorus of suggestions for music education reform.

The Debate
1.“The notion that music programs are anything less than vital is nothing but treble- I mean trouble!” declares world-famous composer and local middle school orchestra director, Ranil Holland. “This dissonant discourse not only puts the jobs of hard-working Nice-Thingsians at risk, but it also threatens the musical futures of our children! The school curriculum must include an emphasis on musical knowledge that all students will be required to participate in. Sure, strings do come attached — it won’t be cheap to buy musical instruments for every boy and girl in Nice-Things — but Nice-Thingsian musical tradition is on the line here!”


2.“Now that’s just nonsense!” barks local high school basketball coach Willow Vonnegut. “Students learn far more from any sport than they do from playing little magic flutes. Youth are only properly taught discipline, determination, and decision-making skills from the challenges of playing on a team. As far as I’m concerned we should just save ourselves some money and cut music ed from the curriculum. After all, band geeks’ only purpose is to put people on the sidelines to cheer us on.”


4.“Maybe the age of traditional music education is on a decrescendo,” states well-known sci-fi author Coraline Cox. “However, music programs can be saved thanks to science! All that’s needed is a more... electronic approach. It’s clear that electronic instruments and music-mixing computer programs must replace their baroque counterparts. Just imagine this: instead of renting saxophones, students can do it all in the computer labs we already have!”


5.“That misses the point entirely,” yells famed Drill Sargeant Hardman, while jogging by with a platoon of soldiers belting out military cadences behind him. “The only reason why schools exist is to make loyal, productive citizens out of Nice-Thingsian children. In this regard, music education has been taught entirely in the wrong key. The curriculum should be revised with the goal of accentuating patriotic values in mind! Students should be required to learn and sing the nation’s praises, including our national anthem!”


Issue by The Royal Dominion of Candensia

Edited by Ransium

[Nation of Quebec]

958
Pay No Attention to That Donor Behind the Curtain!


The Issue
After several Party MPs and Cabinet Ministers refused to disclose their donor lists, an anonymous government source released the lists on the internet. To nobody’s surprise, the donors included several high society elites and foreign officials.

The Debate
1.“The fact that it took a leak to get this information out to the public is shameful in itself,” states corruption watchdog Joseph Cruz. “Politicians shouldn’t get to hide who is financing them. We the people deserve to know who’s filling the pockets of our politicians, especially during elections. That way we can see who’s really pulling the strings of our politicians! We, the people, demand full transparency from our elected officials.”


2.“What about my right to privacy?” replies a woman wearing a fake mustache who looks suspiciously like the Supreme Leader of Blackacre. “Ever since those donor lists were released, I’ve been harassed to the point that I’ve had to change my Twitcher handle! There’s a reason why these lists are kept secret. Please, Leader, I implore you to protect the identities of all political donors.”


3.“Imagine how much less corruption there’d be if we simply regulated political donations,” suggests Otohime King, a political science professor. “Money tends to corrupt, and absolute money corrupts absolutely. If we only allowed small donations of less than one hundred Dragons from private Shen Yunian citizens, we’d have politicians who are beholden to the people, not the bigwigs.”


4.“I think the real problem here is how this ‘source’ was able to get this information,” comments your Public Safety Minister, who frequently reminds you to change the password of your government accounts. “We’ve gone all digital these days. That makes it all too easy to drop terabytes of top secret information on WikiSpills, or walk out with military documents on a USB drive. It’s time we went back to paper records under lock and key to store confidential government information. The environmentalists might not like it, but I’d like to see a leaker walk out here with a big filing cabinet!”


5.“The problem isn’t how, but why and who,” rebuts Winston Tightlips, your most loyal staffer. “We need to weed out any leakers and staffers who are disloyal to you. Monitor the communications of every government employee and have them sign loyalty pledges. The guilty party will have no choice but to confess!”


Issue by The Free Secular Federation of Nation of Quebec

Edited by Nation of Quebec

It's finally been found!

Just a heads up, all the names in this issue are random, except for the last name of the character in #5.

[Candensia]

959
A-Major Debate


The Issue
One of your advisers was caught referring to music education as “non-essential curriculum”. Her comment has struck a chord, resulting in a chorus of suggestions for music education reform.

The Debate
1.“The notion that music programs are anything less than vital is nothing but treble- I mean trouble!” declares world-famous composer and local middle school orchestra director, Ranil Holland. “This dissonant discourse not only puts the jobs of hard-working Nice-Thingsians at risk, but it also threatens the musical futures of our children! The school curriculum must include an emphasis on musical knowledge that all students will be required to participate in. Sure, strings do come attached — it won’t be cheap to buy musical instruments for every boy and girl in Nice-Things — but Nice-Thingsian musical tradition is on the line here!”


2.“Now that’s just nonsense!” barks local high school basketball coach Willow Vonnegut. “Students learn far more from any sport than they do from playing little magic flutes. Youth are only properly taught discipline, determination, and decision-making skills from the challenges of playing on a team. As far as I’m concerned we should just save ourselves some money and cut music ed from the curriculum. After all, band geeks’ only purpose is to put people on the sidelines to cheer us on.”


4.“Maybe the age of traditional music education is on a decrescendo,” states well-known sci-fi author Coraline Cox. “However, music programs can be saved thanks to science! All that’s needed is a more... electronic approach. It’s clear that electronic instruments and music-mixing computer programs must replace their baroque counterparts. Just imagine this: instead of renting saxophones, students can do it all in the computer labs we already have!”


5.“That misses the point entirely,” yells famed Drill Sargeant Hardman, while jogging by with a platoon of soldiers belting out military cadences behind him. “The only reason why schools exist is to make loyal, productive citizens out of Nice-Thingsian children. In this regard, music education has been taught entirely in the wrong key. The curriculum should be revised with the goal of accentuating patriotic values in mind! Students should be required to learn and sing the nation’s praises, including our national anthem!”


Issue by The Royal Dominion of Candensia

Edited by Ransium

Hehe, It was tough not to self report.

Big thanks to Ransium for editing this!

[Sacara]

959
A-Major Debate


The Issue
One of your advisers was caught referring to music education as “non-essential curriculum”. Her comment has struck a chord, resulting in a chorus of suggestions for music education reform.

The Debate
1.“The notion that music programs are anything less than vital is nothing but treble- I mean trouble!” declares world-famous composer and local middle school orchestra director, Ranil Holland. “This dissonant discourse not only puts the jobs of hard-working Nice-Thingsians at risk, but it also threatens the musical futures of our children! The school curriculum must include an emphasis on musical knowledge that all students will be required to participate in. Sure, strings do come attached — it won’t be cheap to buy musical instruments for every boy and girl in Nice-Things — but Nice-Thingsian musical tradition is on the line here!”


2.“Now that’s just nonsense!” barks local high school basketball coach Willow Vonnegut. “Students learn far more from any sport than they do from playing little magic flutes. Youth are only properly taught discipline, determination, and decision-making skills from the challenges of playing on a team. As far as I’m concerned we should just save ourselves some money and cut music ed from the curriculum. After all, band geeks’ only purpose is to put people on the sidelines to cheer us on.”


4.“Maybe the age of traditional music education is on a decrescendo,” states well-known sci-fi author Coraline Cox. “However, music programs can be saved thanks to science! All that’s needed is a more... electronic approach. It’s clear that electronic instruments and music-mixing computer programs must replace their baroque counterparts. Just imagine this: instead of renting saxophones, students can do it all in the computer labs we already have!”


5.“That misses the point entirely,” yells famed Drill Sargeant Hardman, while jogging by with a platoon of soldiers belting out military cadences behind him. “The only reason why schools exist is to make loyal, productive citizens out of Nice-Thingsian children. In this regard, music education has been taught entirely in the wrong key. The curriculum should be revised with the goal of accentuating patriotic values in mind! Students should be required to learn and sing the nation’s praises, including our national anthem!”


Issue by The Royal Dominion of Candensia

Edited by Ransium

Hehe, It was tough not to self report.

Big thanks to Ransium for editing this!

Nice job Candensia on becoming an issue author!

[Candensia]

Thanks Sacara!

I can confirm that the names in 959.1, 959.2, and 959.4 are random.

Name in 959.5 seems to be fixed.

EDIT: Something to note, my draft only included 4 options, so this is a wacky suprise? Are those internal numberings correct?

[Jutsa]

“What about my right to privacy?” replies a woman wearing a fake mustache who looks suspiciously like the Supreme Leader of Blackacre.

Oh sweet mercy this is too precious

Seriously, that's a really good one. Congratulations, NoQ.

Added both! Congratulations on getting an issue in the game so quickly, Candensia.

Pretty sure option 3 is a variant for option 2 for nations that don't have football and junk, though I'm not sure.
Also keep an eye out to see if option 6 exists. I hope it does! Can't really sing the national anthem if you have none, am I right?

[Trotterdam]

EDIT: Something to note, my draft only included 4 options, so this is a wacky suprise? Are those internal numberings correct?

Option 3 is probably a variant of option 2 or 4 that does more or less the same thing, but has slightly different text to account for the nation in question.

My money's on a variant of option 2 for nations that banned sports, or a variant of option 4 for nations that banned computers. Actually, now that I think about it, why doesn't it have both?

[Jutsa]

You can be a sci-fi writer even if computers are banned.

I thought it might be for a ban on poetry, but you can also still write in literature even if it's illegal.

(that said you can't sing the national anthem if there isn't one please tell me that's covered)

[Candensia]

You can be a sci-fi writer even if computers are banned.

I thought it might be for a ban on poetry, but you can also still write in literature even if it's illegal.

(that said you can't sing the national anthem if there isn't one please tell me that's covered)

I guess Ransium left us some cookies to find.

[Trotterdam]

You can be a sci-fi writer even if computers are banned.

4."Maybe the age of traditional music education is on a decrescendo," states well-known sci-fi author Coraline Cox. "However, music programs can be saved thanks to science! All that's needed is a more... electronic approach. It’s clear that electronic instruments and music-mixing computer programs must replace their baroque counterparts. Just imagine this: instead of renting saxophones, students can do it all in the computer labs we already have!"

[Jutsa]

Oh jeez, you're right! Guess I accidentally didn't read that option .-.

Hmm... well, can't really have an alternate to that with ease, so it probably has a validity but no alternative.
That's what I'm banking on.

[Trotterdam]

so it probably has a validity but no alternative.

Ah, good point.

[Trotterdam]

#264 2 is not valid for autarkies.

By the way, I have some new tools for checking prerequisites now, so you can ask me if you need me to look at something, though no guarantees. It's hard (but not impossible) to draw conclusions on #959, for example, since the alternative has the same effect line as the normal version. Although I did notice the validity for the fifth option seems to be having the Pledge of Allegiance policy, rather than (or maybe in addition to) an anthem per se.

[Jutsa]

Huh... interesting. O_o

Well, that still means we probably have an option 6 to look for...

think you might be able to dig anything else up, or does it really only work for specific requests?

Edit: also updated the option, thanks. :3c

[Trotterdam]

think you might be able to dig anything else up, or does it really only work for specific requests?

Well, the problem is that it's hard to prove a negative.

For example, my database currently thinks that #861 requires the "Conscription" and "Parental Licensing" policies, simply because it's a rare issue and all four nations it's seen answering it so far had those policies, even though they're obviously irrelevant. My backed-up pre-reset database thought the same issue required the "Polygamy" policy, which is even more silly. Given enough data points, these should eventually disappear, but until then they look indistinguishable from the one reported policy requirement that does make sense, "Geronticide".

Checking for requiring a lack of a policy being required, rather than it presence, has the same problem even stronger, since some policies are just really rare. Currently, around half of the issues in the game have never been observed on a nation with the Child Self-Rearing policy. So telling whether any issues legitimately don't appear for nations with that policy is basically impossible.

So it takes some creative interpreting to figure out what's likely to be a real validity and what's just a coincidence.

Conversely, the simple act of banking an issue and answering it later, after your policies changed, can make it look like the issue doesn't have a validity when it does. This rarely happens, but given enough time it will eventually, and it basically invalidates any conclusions I can draw. I think option validities are immune to this, at least.

On that note, I noticed a mistake on my query for #959 option 5. It doesn't require the Pledge of Allegiance policy - it sets it (which makes more sense). I fixed the oversight that caused it, so it shouldn't happen again. (I was in a hurry, okay?)

[Trotterdam]

Well, I can confirm that a nation where computers are banned just failed to get option 4 on #959, without a replacement.

[Nation of Quebec]

Justa, there's a minor mistake in #958 when you posted it here. The character in the last option has a random first name, but a fixed last name.

[Orientis Noverai]

#935 options 3 and 4 uses fixed names Rosalia Cheyney and Xanatos Scheer respectively, I think.

Presumably, those are the names the random machine gave you

To clarify, both names were the exact same two that another dude reported on NSindex.

[The Free Joy State]

Presumably, those are the names the random machine gave you

To clarify, both names were the exact same two that another dude reported on NSindex.

This might be a good opportunity to clarify that #935 uses random names for all options.