Tech Forum Frequently Asked Questions
Tech Forum Frequently Asked Questions About Gameplay
How do I Declare War?/How do I trade?
It is almost all RPed. Read the stickies in the NationStates, International Incidents, and Global Economics and Trade Forums.
How do I invade?
I'm never clear on what this is asking. If you mean declare war see above, if you mean region-crash check out the stickies in the Gameplay forum, and if you mean take over people's nations, you can not unless they are new and you lie to them (which as Sirocco pointed out can put you in very hot water).
My nations description is saying contradictory things!
The nation description is broken down into primarily 3 paragraphs. Your first paragraph contains some information about your population, a key feature of your government (these are usually very hard to loose once you get them), and a description based entirely on your WA type (which can cause a lot of problems). The second paragraph starts off describing your government with some adjectives (similar to the population paragraph) and lists your priorities and major industries, as well as tax rate. The third paragraph contains some strings directly based on your last four issue choices and some info about your national animal and currency.
The problem is that all of these adjectives and descriptions are based on different things. So, for example, a popular complaint used to be that a nation that was listed as an Anarchy had no government in the first paragraph, but an "omni-present" government in the second. This was because the player had met the requirements to become an anarchy (none of which have to do with government size), but had done so through massive government intervention.
The solution? Well, there really isn't one. You can take whichever of the contradictory descriptors you want to be the "correct" description of your nation, but the game would practically have to be rewritten from the ground up to get these contradictions out, and it won't be happening.
Tech Forum Frequently Asked Questions About Game Mechanics
What is is this site coded in?
Perl for the game and PHP for the forums.
I have two nations and whenever I am logged into one it logs me into the other.
Turn off auto login and delete your "Autologin" cookie if it still happens.
When do the updates run? What do they do? How long do they take to complete?
There are two update times, which (regardless of any official terms) I call the "major update" and the "minor update". During both updates, any issue choices made by your nation are processed and for nations set to two issues per day (or per weekday), an issue is placed in there issue box. Additionally, the Delegacy may now change hands during either update. However, the WA rankings are only updated during the major update (as it cycles through the regions) and the new list is posted at the very end of the update.
Update times:
Major: Between 12 midnight to 1 AM EDT in my experience - Exact ending time is variable, but can be verified by the new WA Rankings being published.
Minor: Similarly, between 12 noon to 1 PM EDT.
Tech Forum Frequently Asked Questions About Flags
How did such and such get such a large flag?
The server is stupid. It does not go by size, only by file size, despite the restrictions mentioned.
My flag is below 10 KB, but it will not upload.
Try saving it as a GIF or shrinking it. If you do not like the effect ask 1 Infinite Loop to tweak it or the Flag Maker to make you a new one.
My flag isn't updating after I upload a new one/It says I have outstanding issues, but I've answered them/1000 other problems about pages not looking like what they are supposed to.
This is a problem with caching. The pages/flag/whatever is updating fine, but your browser is using an older version of the page when it is displayed. Caching is something your browser does to save bandwidth (especially for 56k users, who need all the bandwidth they can get) by not re-downloading the same files every time it visits a page. Users with slower connections can use ctrl+f5 (force full refresh) to re-download the page just this once while keeping caching enabled if they want.
Tech Forum Frequently Asked Questions About Customizable Features
Can we add national leader/capital/religion?
YES! There are now three issues in the game regarding these. Once you get one of these issues, you will unlock access to a custom field allowing you to set your national leader, capital, or religion, as appropriate.
Can we add a new customizable field of another sort then?
Look how long it took them to turn a drop down menu into a text box for a third of NS. Now you want a whole NEW field? Not likely.
Mods, can you change my nation name for me?
First off, this is a Mod Forum question, for all that I see it in Tech, secondly, no, they can not.
[violet] wrote:The game code uses a nation's name as its ID, an unfortunate design decision that we are stuck with. Renaming a nation would break all references to it in regions, player Dossiers, the WA, etc.
How do I change my nation prefix?/Could you change my nation prefix mods?
No, you must have a population of 500+ million, and as Sirocco pointed out, in the "Settings" you change chose from the preassembled list.
Tech Forum Frequently Asked Questions About The WA
The FAQ says that I can have only one WA nation. How many non WA nations may I have?
As many as you want. Nations that are not your main nation are referred to as "puppets". If your main nation is not in the WA then the nation that you have in the WA is called a "WA Puppet".
What does being a Delegate do?
It allows you to endorse proposals, helping them reach resolution status, It gives you one extra vote for each member of your region who endorses you, and, if your region has no founder then it allows you access to regional control. Also the founder may chose to grant you access to regional control, although it makes you an easier target for any region crashers left.
I have the most endorsements in my region, so how come I am not the delegate?
You have to wait for the WA server update around 9-10 (both AM and PM) PDT.
I've got a new e-mail address. Will my WA status be affected if I put it in my settings page?
Nope.
What happens when there is a tie for the WA delegate position?
Depending on the situation, the game uses one of two processes to determine who the new WA delegate will be.
1) If the current WA delegate is one of the people involved in the tie, then they retain delegateship. You have to beat the current delegate to become delegate of a region.
2) If the current WA delegate is not involved in the tie (or there is no current delegate) then whichever nation has been in the region longest will win the tie.
Is WA status retained when my nation is resurrected?
No, all nations resurrected are automatically resigned from the WA. However, you can re-apply your nation as long as you don't have any other WA nations.
How long is the e-mail accepting me into the WA valid for?
It's good until it gets bumped out of the queue. The WA only keeps track of some number of applications at a time, and then it drops the old ones. So, if you wait until N nations apply after you, the email expires.
Tech Forum Frequently Asked Questions About the Forums
How do I post pictures?
Place the url of an image in between the [img] tags. Note that images cannot be larger than 900 pixels square, or you will receive an error messages. There is no way to upload an image directly to the forums -- it needs to be hosted somewhere else on the Web.
How do you do the link thing? The one where the link isn't shown, just its description? Like this: Kitties!
Type [url=Insert URL]Description[/ url] (take out the space between / and url).
Hey I have a great Idea! Lets split International Incidents into past/present/future (and possibly fantasy) timelines forums.
No. This has been discussed in depth and it will not happen in the near future as it would require too much moderation. If they decide that it is a possibility then Salusa will announce it.
I can't view images/signatures/avatars! How do I fix this?
Go into your User CP > Board Profile > Edit Display Options > Set the appropriate radio buttons to "Yes" > Submit
How do I post smilies?
Click the buttons to the right of your post. If they don't show up, you'll have to go to your User CP > Board Profile > Edit Posting Defaults to enable them.
What software is used for the forums?
phpBB3.
Tech Forum Frequently Asked Questions About Issues
I keep getting the same issues.
There were only 39 different issues, and each nation only qualified for a few of them. [violet] made an interface which allows game mods to edit player-submitted issues, but, new players still only get the first 30 (not the nine old player-submitted issues even) for their first couple of weeks. There are now nearly 250, yet the older ones still seem to repeat more often.
Can we get more issues per day? Two does not cut it for me.
Unless you get the pop bug (in which case you get four or more) than you can only get two per day on each nation. Most people get bored with it after a while, but if not, that is what puppets are for. Also, chances are if you do get the pop bug, the mods will hunt you down and fix it fairly quickly. Basically - make more puppets.
How can I change my position on an issue?
All of the issues can eventually be repeated (although some choices can make it so you won't get the issue until you undo them in another issue - like banning elections).
Your decisions on past issues are not recorded. When you make a decision, your nations stats are changed based on that decision and the game forgets what your choice was. When issues start repeating, if you choose the same option the stats will move even farther in the direction that choice pushes them. If you choose a different option, then your stats will change according to that option.
(note: With a new process called "issue treeing" the choices on past issues can be directly recorded, but I don't think any issues in the game actually use this yet)
Why do my issue choices randomly change after I select them?
This is a common problem caused when people use web accelerators. Either turn it off completely, or, at the very least, for http://www.nationstates.net
How do I submit a new issue?
Once you have 500 million people, there will be a link on your main "Issues" page to submit an issue.
Tech Forum Frequently Asked Questions About Moderation
I hate my nation, and want it deleted. Can the mods delete my nation for me?
No. The mods have decided not to delete nations for people. You have to let it die by not logging in for 28 days or sixty days on vacation mode. It doesn't matter of course because you won't be meaning to log into it again anywise.
Oh! I know! I'll make my unwanted nation do something like spam up the forums, flame, or break the rules to get it deleted!
Very bad idea. Such an action would get you into very serious trouble. You may even be IP banned from the site, and never be able to come here again!
How can I get a nation back from the dead?
Go to the login page and select the nation resurrection option.
Is WA status retained when my nation is resurrected?
No, all nations resurrected are automatically resigned from the WA. However, you can re-apply your nation as long as you don't have any other WA nations.
Tech Forum Frequently Asked Questions About Regions
How do I create a region?
On your (current) region's page, it says "Tired of life in (region name)? Then move to a new region! ". Click "move to a new region". Then click "Create a New Region". Enter a name and a Factbook Entry, then hit "Create Region". You will be in a new region!
What does regional control do?
It allows you to bar/unbar delegate access to regional control, ban/unban members, evict members, update your factbook entry, and password protect your region.
What happens if someone is kicked out of the Rejected Realms?
The Rejected Realms is a special region- since it is the destination of all ejected nations, ejecting anyone from it would be futile; After all, where would they go?
As a result, the ejection section of the Rejected Realms' regional control is turned off permanently and irrevocably. It is impossible to eject anyone from that region.
On a similar note, passwording is also disabled permanently in the Rejected Realms, as well as in the five Pacific regions where new players start the game.
What happens when there is a tie for the WA delegate position?
Depending on the situation, the game uses one of two processes to determine who the new WA delegate will be.
1) If the current WA delegate is one of the people involved in the tie, then they retain delegateship. You have to beat the current delegate to become delegate of a region.
2) If the current WA delegate is not involved in the tie (or there is no current delegate) then whichever nation has been in the region longest will win the tie.
How can I become my region's founder?
There is only one way to become a region's founder: FOUND IT! You have to create the region out of empty nothingness.
But my region doesn't have a founder/has a dead founder and we want to get it one.
If you have an old region with no founder or your founder died, then to get a new founder you must get everyone to move out of the region and re-create it after it is deleted at the next update.
The mods have said they will only appoint founders in the most extreme cases.
What formatting tags can we use in World Factbook Entries?
The code for this is hand-rolled. The tags that we support are:
* [b ] - bold - [/b]
* [u ] - underline - [/u]
* [i ] - italic - [/i]
* [color=color ] - color - [/color]
* [hr] - Horizontal Rule
* [url ] - links to an external URL
* [proposal ] = links to a WA proposal (see this post for the syntax)
* [nation ] - links to a nation
* [region ] - links to a region
* [thread ] - Links to a thread in the forums
Remove the trailing space before the ] before use.
For the last one, check out the news page for the syntax.
How is a region picked to be the featured region?
It's selected randomly. Any region with over five members that isn't password-protected can be picked to be the featured region.
What region should I move to?
Mine.
Tech Forum Frequently Asked Questions About Miscellaneous Stuff
Who is [violet]?
Only the mods know. Many think that she is either Max Barry himself or Max Barry's codemonkey. (Discussion is located here (Jolt forum link).)
What does such and such mean?
Read Sirocco's Guide to the Language of NationStates.
Where is the famous memberlist?
The Memberlist
By Total Posts
Is the photo with the weird mask really a picture of SalusaSecondus?
Yes.
Other
First check the stickies and the main FAQ, then if it is not covered you can post it.
Miscellaneous Bits O' Info
About the Players
NS Player Profiles
for Sirocco.
