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General Assembly 2026: The Plan

by Max Barry
Fri, 12 Dec 2025

As previously announced, big things are happening with the General Assembly! Over the past few months, we've been working through the GA2026 Working Paper proposals with admins, editors, and the community, and have now nailed down how the final project will look.

We can now commit to all 6 major proposals in the GA2026 Working Paper, plus an additional, previously-unannounced major feature: GA Compliance.

During the consultation & planning phase, we surfaced many practical implementation details and questions--too many to address here all at once. Instead, we'll be releasing a series of posts over the next six months with a deep dive on each major feature, explaining what to expect and why.

Timeline

The GA2026 timeline has been slightly revised to reflect the fact it became apparent that most new features would depend on one another. Therefore, rather than delivering one feature at a time over six months, as implied by the Working Paper, the majority of the GA2026 package will be released together.

We are now targeting July 1, 2026. Most importantly, this is when the current body of GA legislation will be permanently archived as per Proposal #1, "Blank Slate," and the GA will begin anew with no existing resolutions and an empty proposal queue.

Proposals #2 ("Simplified proposal rules") and #4 ("Encourage roleplay within the GA forum") will be delivered sooner, especially the latter, as they don't require technical development.

Proposal #3, "WA Secretariat Voting Recommendations," requires the establishment of a new nation-elected body. This body may or may not be elected by July 1, depending on how implementation pans out. We'll be able to provide a timeline update on this closer to the date.

GA Compliance

During the feedback phase, it became apparent that the GA2026 framework would allow us to do something even more ambitious: give nations the power to decide which GA resolutions they adopt.

Compliance with GA resolutions has always been slightly odd, in that nations aren't required to comply with any existing laws upon joining the WA, but they are automatically and instantly brought into line with every new resolution that passes thereafter.

GA Compliance will address this inconsistency, and allow for greater engagement and interaction. Rather than forcing immediate compliance with each new resolution, nations will be required to have adopted a set minimum percentage of all passed resolutions in order to maintain their WA membership. It will be up to them how they do that, by adopting GA resolutions of their choice at any time.

This feature won't disrupt R/D gameplay as it currently exists, but will make GA resolutions more meaningful to most WA members by allowing them to find their own balance between compliance and sovereignity. Look out for details and discussion in a future News post.

Feedback

The GA2026 Working Paper feedback process has been the most significant in the site's 23-year history. We read and considered every post, because the World Assembly today--and the GA in particular--is largely what the community built, not what was coded back in 2002.

I'd like to personally thank everyone who has contributed to that process, which was remarkably positive for such a major change. We feel great about what's coming, and look forward to sharing more over the coming months.

Discussion Thread: GA2026 Plan

Zeeday 14

by Raionitu
Wed, 29 Oct 2025

After last year's unplanned zombie office party, your staff prepared well in advance of the scheduled rising.

What no one saw coming was a single zombie spending an entire year hiding in a box of staples in your office supply closet, waiting for the right moment. While you're sipping a cool generic beverage and your private army is mounting machine guns in the hall, the closet door bursts open in a shower of staples and post-it notes. As you scramble for that revolver from last year's news post, which you hopefully remembered to buy ammo for, the zombie comes to a halt in front of your desk.

"It's... pronounced... 'zeeday'..." With those final words, the rotting corpse collapses to the ground, its mission accomplished. Might as well double tap to be safe.

*BLAM* *BLAM*

This October, the steaks are medium rare.

The dead will walk among us in:

Click here for your local time:

Annex This!

by Lenlyvit
Mon, 13 Oct 2025

This post comes courtesy of Beta Tester Lenlyvit.

Tired of always salting the earth of your vanquished foes, when instead you could be marching them off to work for you? Longing to build an empire upon which the servers will never set? We have just the feature for you, and it's called Annexation. Annexation is a fresh new tool in the arsenal of budding tyrants that allows one Frontier region to completely absorb the nations of another Frontier after a set period of time, but first you must gain the most powerful position within the region: World Assembly Delegate.

Intended to add another dynamic layer to Frontier gameplay, Annexation is meant to encourage politicking between Frontier regions. Want a Frontier of your own, but tired of waiting for the population to increase slowly? Then conquer another Frontier and annex its entire population, forcibly relocating every resident nation to yours! Who cares if they don't all agree with the results of being moved to your region? It's your empire, you can rule how you want!

Annexation is only available to Frontiers, and only fellow Frontier regions can be targeted.

Have any questions? Feel free to join the discussion for this update found in the Technical Forum!

N-Day13: Aftermath

by Chingis
Sat, 11 Oct 2025

The number 13 may be unlucky for some, but this NDay it has brought great fortune to our champions, Jellyfish Elite Fighting Force, who improved on their second-place finish from March to take the faction's first-ever win in splendid fashion, accumulating over one million points. Our eventual champions emerged on top after a lengthy slugfest between five major factions, beating out newcomers Supreme Powers Eviscerating All Rivals, who took the brunt of the hits, resulting in over 700,000 radiation despite a staggering 3.7 million intercepts. Despite this, SPEAR remained strong in second, followed by returning underdogs Starlight Brigade in third and the incumbent champions Anime Nations Against Liberals, who held on to 4th place despite accumulating over one million radiation.

The Final Leaderboard:

FactionScoreNationsRegion
1. Jellyfish Elite Fighting Force 1,064,881 13,722 Nations Jellyfish Elite Fighting Force
2. Supreme Powers Eviscerating All Rivals 737,621 11,784 Nations Supreme Powers Eviscerating All Rivals
3. Starlight Brigade 172,199 1,137 Nations Refugia
4. Anime Nations Against Liberals 63,832 6,655 Nations Anime Nations Against Liberals
5. The Rain Drop Pact 50,248 196 Nations RainDrop Pact HQ
6. Anti-Fascist Solidarity Society 34,576 419 Nations The Antifascist Solidarity Society
7. Yetis of Democracy Assemble 30,237 3,712 Nations Yetis of Democracy Assemble
8. Severe Tyre Damage 23,172 124 Nations Aeternum
9. Commonwealth Defence Force 22,948 29 Nations Commonwealth of Sovereign States
10. The-Lunatics 20,514 167 Nations The Lunatics

See the full final leaderboard

Highest Scores Per Nation (min 10 nations):

FactionScore per NationNationsRegion
1. RAILGUN 1,787.8 10 Nations RAILGUN
2. Oreshnik 907.1 12 Nations Franz Josef Land
3. Commonwealth Defence Force 791.3 29 Nations Commonwealth of Sovereign States
4. Great Monarchies of NationStates 751.1 15 Nations The Great Monarchical Nations
5. Nova Arctic Republic 596.9 23 Nations Arctica
6. Dark clan 449.5 10 Nations Norrys new puppet region
7. The Democratikan Defence Force 393.0 15 Nations The Democratika
8. Democratic Nuclear Treaty Organisation 324.1 11 Nations Vin Land
9. Operation Spearhead 318.3 15 Nations Operation Spearheader
10. Squareworld 264.8 13 Nations Squareworld

Some stats from the day:

  • 503 factions were created.

  • 47,419 nations joined a faction.

  • 51,486,586 nukes were targeted.

  • 42,938,082 nukes were launched.

  • 13,535,443 nukes were shot down.

  • 2,730,383 nukes were shot down by the shield bank.

  • 26,969,092 strikes occurred for 3,124,090 radiation.

Thank you for launching!

N-Day13: Lucky Number Thirteen

by Ostrovskiy
Wed, 24 Sep 2025

In a lot of cultures, 13 is an unlucky number, related to black cats, unwanted guests, and missing hotel floors. Not here, though. Right here, right now, thirteen brings the good luck of watching thousands of nation be annihilated in a nuclear apocalypse that leaves survivors to wander the multiverse in its wake. Mushroom clouds fill the sky as radioactive fallout destroys agriculture and sapients alike. You're in luck, though -- the new soil is great for growing four leaf clovers (and five leaf clovers, and thirty-six leaf clovers, you get the picture).

Here are some other fortunate aspects of the end of times:

  • Have you been nursing a grudge against that one nation for the last seven months? Well, now you can take that out on them!

  • No more of that "diplomacy" and "communication" nonsense. You communicate using the big red button!

  • Usually, when your nation needs something produced, the bureaucrats do it for you. If you enjoy logistics, you can now do them yourself!

If you remain open-minded about the number 13 in conjunction with a nuclear holocaust, all of this will soon come true.

The time until the Nuclear Apocalypse is shown below:

Click here for your local time:

While you reflect on how fortune has just fallen into your lap so, be sure to pre-register for your chosen faction here, have a chat about impending doom in Vault 41, and read these fortunately available dispatches to be prepared:

OVERVIEW

N-Day is an opportunity for nations to come together and exchange nuclear weapons in a fiery Armageddon of mutually assured destruction.

To Participate

  1. Once registration opens, you can create or join a Faction. Nations outside a Faction can't attack or be attacked. You can join a Faction when you're ready and leave when you're not (to stay safe).

  2. When the event begins, nations will be assigned a random Specialty and begin to accumulate Production. You will now be able to spend Production, fire nukes and deploy shields.

  3. Watch your nation automatically generate Production. Use Production to build Nukes and Shield.

  4. Launch Nukes at other nations and use Shield to shoot down Nukes that are launched at you.

Tactics

The simplest way to play N-Day is to join whichever Faction seems most fun and start targeting Nukes at its enemies while shooting down anything incoming. Your Faction page's icon bar shows everything you need to know, including who's targeting anyone in your Faction, and who your fellow Faction members are targeting.

Attacking: Step by Step

  1. On your Production screen, spend some of your Production to build Nukes. These go into your Stockpile.

  2. On another nation's Nuke page, click/tap the TARGET button and select the number of Nukes to use.

  3. Once Targeted, it takes 10 minutes for your Nukes to reach a READY state (3 for Intel Specialists). Note that your Targeted page is public: All nations can see who is targeting whom.

  4. When your Targeted Nukes are ready, click/tap LAUNCH.

  5. Your Nukes are now categorized as Launches for you and Incoming for your target. Launched Nukes take 3-5 minutes to reach their target. When they do, they earn Strikes for you and inflict Radiation on the target, which reduces their rate of Production. This also earns Score for your Faction and reduces the enemy Faction's Score.

Defending: Step by Step

  1. On the Production screen, spend Production to build Shield.

  2. Find Launched Nukes to destroy. Your top priority is any Incoming Nukes launched at you. Secondarily, you may wish to target Incoming Nukes on anyone in your Faction (see your Faction's Incoming page), and also keep an eye on Targeted Nukes that may threaten you or your Faction in the near future.

  3. Click/tap DESTROY to deploy 1 Shield per Nuke.

Strategy

Strategically, it may be wise to avoid attacks on nations or Factions until you are confident of obliterating them, since this eliminates the possibility of counter-attack. Smaller-scale attacks, which damage but don't destroy an enemy, can lead to an escalating series of grudge-related nuclear exchanges.

On the other hand, targeting an enemy can be an effective warning. And it takes Nukes 10 minutes to be ready to launch, so you can't leave it too late.

Scoring

Each Nuke that reaches a target causes Radiation damage, which reduces the target's rate of Production generation and counts as a Strike for the attacker.

A Faction's Score is calculated by

RADIATION_GIVEN - (0.25 * RADIATION_TAKEN)

Duration

N-Day lasts for 24 hours, after which point, an Arms Control Agreement means that no Nukes can be launched. (In-flight nukes can still land, however.)

The "winner" is the Faction with the highest score; if, that is, nuclear war can be said to have a winner. Which we say it can. It's the Faction with the highest score.

FACTIONS

Once registration opens, Factions can be founded by a Regional Officer of any region. Any and all Regional Officers of that region can update the Faction's official text to issue instructions to Faction members.

Factions can be made open to all members, or restricted to the region's members only.

You can leave your Faction, which is a good way to stay safe if you're signing off for the night. However, you can only do this if you're not engaged with the enemy! That means:

  • You must not have any nukes targeted or launched at another nation; and

  • No nukes can be targeted or incoming on you.

Note that in practice, this can make it challenging to leave a Faction, since you may be frequently targeted.

While outside a Faction, you cannot be targeted, and do not generate any Production.

Before joining, it's worth making sure a Faction isn't currently under mass bombardment.

Bikini Atoll and Kicking Faction Members
Bikini Atoll is a special, game-created, faction. It operates as a normal faction, but nations that are kicked from their factions will be transported to Bikini Atoll. All targets on the nation persist. Nations can be kicked from their nuke page, by Regional Officers in the factions founding region. Nations with incoming nukes cannot be kicked.

SPECIALTIES

Nations are randomly assigned a specialty.

Military Specialists build Nukes faster: They receive 50% more Nukes when converting Production.

Strategic Specialists build Shield faster: They receive 50% more Shield when converting Production.

Economic Specialists can accumulate more Production: Their production cap is four times larger than the other specialties.

Intel Specialists can finalize targets faster: Their targetted nukes reach READY in 3 minutes instead of 10. They have no Production advantages.

Cost of Nukes/Shield in Production Points

Military Specialist

Strategic Specialist

Economic Specialist

Intel Specialist

1 Nuke

2

3

3

3

1 Shield

6

4

6

6

PRODUCTION
Non-WA nations automatically generate Production at a rate of 15 Production per 2 minutes, up to a maximum of 750 (3000 for Econ Specialists).
WA nations automatically generate Production at a rate of 150 Production per 2 minutes, up to a maximum of 2500 (10000 for Econ Specialists).

Production can be spent on Nukes or Shield.

WA NATIONS
World Assembly members will accumulate Production 10x faster than non-WA members, and have their Production limits increased by around 3x.
It is allowed to switch WA membership to receive this benefit for different nations, but (as per regular site rules) you are only allowed to have one nation in the WA at a time.
Keep in mind that if your Production is over the non-WA limit when you resign membership on a nation, the Production on that nation will decrease down to the limit (i.e. if you resign with 75 Production on a non-Econ nation, the Production will drop to 50).

We ask that you refrain from switching WA for N-Day purposes more than once every two minutes. You will not be punished for this, but it is against the spirit of this change to the event mechanics.

NUKES

Nukes are purchased with Production, kept in stockpile until ready, then targeted and launched at an enemy nation.

Launched Nukes take 3-5 minutes to reach their target. While in-flight, they can be shot down by any nation using Shield. If they're not, each Nuke generates 0.25% of Radiation in the target and earns 1 Strike for the attacker.

SHIELD

Shield can be used to knock out Launched Nukes. You can shoot down any in-flight Nukes regardless of who they are aimed at.

Locate in-flight Nukes under Launches or Incoming, and use the DESTROY button to eliminate them at a rate of 1 Shield per Nuke.

It is possible to waste Shield if multiple nations deploy Shield simultaneously to knock out the same Nukes. However, there is a chance for duplicate shields to 'overflow' and take out the next set of incoming nukes instead.

Shielding a nation in another faction to yours incurs a 50% penalty on the cost to shield (it takes 1.5 shields to knock down one nuke).

SHIELD BANK

It is possible to donate shield to the Faction Shield Bank, which will automatically shoot down incoming nukes. This alone will not stop all incoming nukes, however, as the rate at which the Shield Bank shoots down nukes is dependent on the number of incoming nukes and its size. The exact formula per minute is given by:

MAX(MIN(0.15 * FACTION_INCOMING, 0.25 * SHIELD_BANK_SIZE), 200)

TARGETING

Target a nation by viewing their Nuke page and clicking/tapping TARGET. You may then select how many Nukes to target from your Stockpile.

It takes a short time for a Targeted Nuke to reach a READY state, after which it may be launched. This is normally 10 minutes, but Intel Specialists are faster, finalizing targets in only 3 minutes.

If not launched after 1 hour, Targeted Nukes automatically return to your Stockpile.

RADIATION

Radiation is generated in a nation when it is struck by a Nuke.

Radiation proportionately reduces a nation's Production generation rate by 0.5% per 1% of Radiation. For example, 20% Radiation reduces Production generation by 10%.

When a nation is 100% Radiated, it is destroyed and no longer able to launch any Nukes nor use any Shield.

Radiation is irreversible.

You can leave a Faction when irradiated, but this does not affect your Faction's score.

SCORE

A Faction's score measures strikes and radiation that occurred while those nations were a member. It is unaffected by nations joining or leaving the Faction.

GLOSSARY

Term

Explanation

Production

Used to buy Nukes and Shield. Automatically generated by all non-destroyed nations in a Faction.

Nuke

Unholy instrument of death and destruction.

Stockpiled Nuke

A Nuke that has been purchased with Production and is sitting idle, awaiting a target.

Targeted Nuke

A Nuke that has been targeted at a nation. A targeted Nuke takes 10 minutes to achieve a READY state, after which it may be launched.

Launched/Incoming/In-Flight Nuke

A Nuke that has been launched at a nation and is currently chewing up 3-5 minutes of in-flight time.

Shield

A unit of defensive technology. Possibly involves lasers or satellites or something.

Strike

A record of how many Nukes have successfully landed on targets.

Radiation

A record of how many Nukes have struck the nation. Reduces Production generation.

Faction

A group of nations sharing a common interest in survival and/or bloodlust.

Score

The Faction Score

Read dispatch

This is a list of all planned changes, with some commentary, for NDay13 (September 2025). The final numbers on this dispatch are liable to tweaks, and this is not a strict guarantee that all of the below will be included in the event, as development and testing time is limited for our volunteer techies.


Numerical Changes


Change

Old Value

New Value

Cross-Faction Shield Penalty

1.5

1.7

Radiation Penalty

0.5 per rad

0.66 per rad

Maximum Power Modifier (Shields)

Unlimited

20

Radiation Healed per Heal

10

5

Production Cost to Heal

600

700

Score per Heal

5

10


Other Changes

  • Decreased the scale of the modifiers; that is, differences in faction power will result in smaller modifiers than previously.

  • Production (but not shields or nukes) is now reset upon leaving a faction.


Discussion


We are happy with the changes from the previous event. However, the increased ability to revive your own allies, constant self-healing, and the reduction of the strength of larger factions against smaller ones have led to a shift in the balancing of the event. To counteract this, we are taking several measures. Firstly, we are reducing the strength and increasing the cost of the heal. The intention for this is to reduce the number of nations that can be revived within a certain timeframe. To reflect the increased cost, we have also increased the score gained from healing. Secondly, as radiation is now cleaned over time, we are increasing the penalty for being irradiated from 0.5 to 0.66 per point of radiation. This means that at radiation levels of near-100, nations will gain production at about one-third of the normal rate, down from one-half. Thirdly, we are reducing the effect of the modifiers somewhat, and capping their maximum effect at 20. We will monitor to see if this improves the overall experience or not. Lastly, the recent changes have strongly benefitted smaller factions. As a result, conglomerates of small factions have increased drastically in power relative to larger factions. This is being reigned in through a further increase in the cross-faction shielding penalty and by eliminating the ability for healers to move between factions on a whim while keeping their revive charge ready.


Bug Fixes

  • Factions that are within a 5% margin of the defender's power will now be considered as equivalent in strength. This was always the intention, but was not implemented properly last event.

Read dispatch

Good luck!

A Ton of Football

by Ko-oren
Wed, 03 Sep 2025

It's fitting that the World Cup Hall of Fame is one of the biggest Wonders of the World. Name a feature of NationStates: the NS football World Cup pre-dates it. It was already in the middle of its 75th edition when national and regional banners became a thing. The very first Z-day happened during World Cup 68. Factbooks became a thing during World Cup 59. Commendations and Condemnations came in during World Cup 46, World Cup 40 began alongside the announcement that the UN would become the WA. The switch from the inaugural forums to the ill-fated Jolt forums briefly interrupted World Cup 15. The site got its first moderator towards the end of the qualifying phase of World Cup 4. World Cup 1 coincides more or less with the oldest entry of this very News tab.

Twenty two years on, the NS World Cup holds its 100th edition.

No one can be told exactly what the World Cup is. You have to see it for yourself. I can tell you that it's made of voodoo dice and Margaret's rubber chickens, it's held together by Karela and the Cabañas effect, and it's powered by KPB+, SQIS, 1093, EBWK, NSFS and LISA, and that only one of those acronyms is out of place.

You are invited to add to the beautiful chaotic history, present, and future of the NS World Cup. The sign-ups for World Cup 100 are open. Check out the Guide to NS Sports and be sure to read the sign-up instructions.

Search Your Dispatches

by Max Barry
Tue, 02 Sep 2025

Do you know how many Dispatches there are? WRONG. Like, not even close. There are actually 1.58 million Dispatches, of which 78% are Factbooks, 10% are Bulletins, 10% are Accounts, and 2% are Meta, whatever that is.

And now they're searchable! Yes, admin The Gingerbread Wardens of Haku has produced another one of those handy new features we probably should have had years ago. And now we do!

Start Searching

General Assembly 2026: The Working Paper

by Max Barry
Thu, 24 Jul 2025

Many people only know the General Assembly as that place that spits out international laws, which get implemented in your WA member nation whether you voted for them or not. But it's so much more!

The GA has been operating in its current incarnation for almost 17 years, and has developed a vast compendium of almost 800 passed resolutions. It's a hotbed of debate and discussion... which most WA members don't realize exists, because it happens in parts of the forums that aren't easy located.

We've developed a bold plan to bring the GA into greater focus, with a set of six major changes. And we're looking for your feedback! Please browse the GA 2026 Working Paper and share your thoughts:

Summary

This is a working paper for a package of updates focused on the General Assembly. It's an ambitious project with sweeping changes, so we're seeking community feedback ahead of a final decision.

Please contribute your constructive ideas and thoughts here: GA 2026 Discussion Thread.

Introduction

The General Assembly (GA) is the legislative branch of the World Assembly (WA). Nations don't need to join the WA, but if they do, they are subject to the effects of Resolutions passed by the GA, which have real statistical effects. WA member nations can vote on proposed new legislation, and increase the voting power of their region's WA Delegate by endorsing them.

Over time, the GA has evolved a highly sophisticated set of protocols and legal precedence, which are both tribute to the intellectual rigor with which it operates and an intimidating hurdle to newcomers.

History

When NationStates began in 2002, it had a chamber known as the "United Nations" (UN), which was essentially the General Assembly as it operates today.

On April 1, 2008, the chamber was (suddenly) renamed as the "World Assembly." All 255 passed Resolutions were archived, to be henceforth known as "Historical" Resolutions. The new chamber began with a legislative blank slate.

In early 2009, two new Resolution types were introduced, "Commend" and "Condemn," which could target individual regions and nations. These were ultimately deemed ill-fitting with the chamber's original purpose, and so two months later, the WA was split, with a new Security Council (SC) chamber created with the authority to pass the new resolution types, and the General Assembly continuing to craft international law.

At time of writing, there are 794 GA Resolutions, 553 SC Resolutions, and 244 Historical Resolutions.

The process of passing a Resolution in the GA is:

  1. A nation submits a proposal. In many cases, the proposal has already been extensively workshopped in the forums by this point.

  2. The proposal's legality is determined. If it is ruled illegal, it is discarded. Originally, "legal" simply meant compliance with site rules (e.g. not spam or obscene), but it has evolved into a large set of protocols for determining that a proposal does not contradict an existing Resolution, among other things. At different times, this task has been performed by moderators and by a panel known as the General Assembly Secretariat (GenSec).

  3. WA Delegates may inspect the pool of legal proposals and grant their approval to any or all. Proposals that fail to achieve a quorum of approvals within a period of time are discarded.

  4. The proposal enters a queue for the voting floor.

  5. The proposal is presented to the entire World Assembly for voting. If a majority approve before voting ends, the proposal becomes a Resolution.

General Assembly 2026: Goals

The General Assembly is one of the oldest continually operating communities in NationStates, and in many ways reflects the core ethos of the site. It is archaic, complicated, ideological, idealistic, pedantic, and distinctly unlike anything else on the internet. Today it houses a 17-year accumulation of legislative work that has been built atop hundreds of thousands of posts, and millions of written words.

This is a jewel in the crown of the site, but with its success comes a drawback: as the collective body of work grows, it becomes more difficult to find ways to improve it, and greater knowledge is required by any participant who wishes to make a contribution.

Today, while there are 18,000 WA member nations, the vast majority's exposure to the GA is:

  1. Receiving a telegram notifying them of the passage of GA resolution that affects their nation stats; and

  2. Casting a vote in At-Vote Resolutions

The majority of GA activity -- the rest of the iceberg -- exists almost exclusively forum-side, and is not well-signposted from the rest of the site. Only a small fraction of WA members participate here; we can presume many or most are unaware of its existence.

The GA has not received significant new features or targeted UI improvements for a long time.

This project was tasked with developing methods of achieving the following goals:

  1. Lower barriers to entry for nations interested in participating in the GA

  2. Increase the visibility of GA debate and discussion

  3. Improve the accuracy of stat changes on all WA members caused by passed resolutions

  4. Expand the scope for legislative changes

  5. Encourage and grow the GA's roleplaying culture

Proposals

Below are six proposals on which we're seeking feedback. These may be considered individually; one is not a prerequisite for another.

This call for feedback exists to help unearth issues and opportunities -- not to run a popularity poll. It is well-understood that a proposal may be viewed very positively or negatively depending on the player's preferred playing style, as it differently affects how different people like to interact with the site. We are aware of the relative sizes of these communities, and don't seek to count one up against the other. We do seek individual feedback on how your day-to-day enjoyment of the site could be affected.

Proposal 1: Blank Slate of General Assembly Legislation

Target Improvement: With almost 800 GA resolutions passed over 17 years, players can find themselves restricted to niche topics, and be frustrated when attempting to make meaningful change. A blank slate allows for new legislative efforts under the same framework that are not currently possible due to contradictions with existing law.

Timeline: End-date announced six months in advance, so authors have time to prepare & pass final legislation, and to prepare for the reset.

Actions:

  1. Archive General Assembly legislation: Following the same model as Historical Resolutions from the original United Nations in 2008, GA legislation will be archived, i.e. remain accessible but no longer considered in force.

  2. Archive forum threads: All threads in the General Assembly forum to be archived, excluding those that players request to retain as relevant post-reset.

  3. Blank slate: No existing international law is considered to be in effect; new proposals need not comply with pre-reset rules.

  4. No sunsetting of resolutions: As now, passed resolutions will remain in effect until repealed. (Sunsetting is an alternate proposal to achieve the same outcome of expiring legislation.)

Why Not?: Although a legislative reset has happened before, this would be a very large change, and close the chapter on a 17-year collective effort to refine international law. While it may create new opportunities, it would certainly disappoint some previous authors and contributors who would rather their legal efforts remain in force. The current set of GA Resolutions is a major achievement, of a kind found nowhere else in the world, and archiving it would reduce its relevance.

Proposal 2: Simplified proposal rules

Target Improvement: The existing proposal rules derive from the initial rules written by Moderators nearly 20 years ago to cater to a largely roleplay-based group that operated on the at-arm's-length Jolt forums. They suit those after a complex legislative environment with extensive lawyering around proposal legality matters; however, they also require an extreme amount of knowledge to competently enforce - particularly with contradiction and duplication rules necessitating encyclopaedic knowledge of hundreds of passed resolutions.

They are a substantial barrier to participation in the General Assembly, with the result that periods of legislation are dominated by a very small number of repeat authors.

A further problem is the proliferation of legality challenges, particularly last-minute ones, which can result in authors seeing their work thwarted at the final hurdle by legislative rulings that were difficult to foresee. Such rulings were originally a simple moderator function aimed at filtering out spam, but today are almost as big a part of the process as composing and passing well-worked legislation. This shifts power to the body that determines whether proposals are legal, away from Delegates who decide whether to approve a proposal's passage, and the wider GA body who vote on it.

By contrast, the Security Council rules are relatively simple to comprehend and comply with, even for inexperienced authors, and legality challenges are only occasional. This means WA members have more say both in the result of individual legislation and in the general direction of the greater body.

Actions:

  1. New simplified ruleset: As detailed below, with the headline changes including the removal of the rules against duplication, contradiction, and on veracity of repeals.

  2. Moderators enforce rules: The Moderator team will continue to enforce the new ruleset.


GA Simplified Ruleset

The following rules apply to all proposals submitted to the General Assembly. Every proposal is reviewed by Moderators for legality, and illegal ones are held from going to vote. All authors are strongly encouraged to draft their proposal in a new thread in the General Assembly forum, seeking advice from other experienced players to ensure their proposal's quality and legality prior to submission.

  1. Proposal Contents

    1. World Assembly legislation: Proposals must be written as law from the perspective of the World Assembly or General Assembly, not that of your nation, region or another organisation.

      • This means proposals need to be laws written by the World Assembly, not "addressed to" it. You are not required to start proposals with "The General Assembly" or "The World Assembly", but it can help provide this perspective.

    2. House of cards: Proposals must be able to independently stand alone, and cannot rely on existing resolutions to function.

      • Referencing other resolutions in the arguments of a repeal is fine, as is referencing committees created by existing resolutions.

    3. Operative clause: Proposals must contain an operative clause that states what the proposal is actually doing.

      • New legislation has to have some recognizable effect on member nations, such as requiring them to take action or encouraging them to support a policy change, a repeal must state that it repeals its target.

      • Proposals cannot create specific rules for individual nations or regions; for example, it is fine to create a law affecting "all nations with a coastline", but not fine to say "all nations with a coastline along The Pacific".

    4. Additional actions: A repeal can only repeal existing legislation and cannot simultaneously introduce new legislation. No Proposal is able to amend an existing resolution.

  2. Fourth Wall

    1. NationStates game: Proposals cannot refer to the game, or events or actions in it, as part of a game.

    2. Real world: The General Assembly exists in the NationStates multiverse, which has similarities to the "real world" but with its own oddities, and without specifically identifiable "real world" things, such as NATO, Taylor Swift, or Melbourne. Proposals therefore cannot reference the "real world" outside of NationStates, such as real world governments, people, places, languages, and organisations.

  3. Appropriate Topics

    1. Beyond the GA's capacities: Proposals cannot force compliance on non-member nations. Further, don't use proposals to raise issues that should be dealt with elsewhere, such as rules violations, technical suggestions, or to request new features.

    2. Site rules: The Site Rules apply to any content submitted to the site, including proposals. In particular, note the Copyright section, which prohibits plagiarism.

      • Plagiarism is the theft of another person's work. If a player wishes to submit another's proposal, explicit permission must be obtained and submitted either through a Getting Help Request or Moderation so we have a paper trail. If not, the offender is ejected and the proposal is deleted.

  4. Miscellaneous Rules

    1. Links: In-game links to nations, regions and UN/WA resolutions are allowed within proposals so long as they are formatted not to show the url. Links to other webpages, whether onsite or offsite, are not permitted.

    2. Branding: Authors should use the in-built mechanics for recording co-authors, rather than listing them in the text of proposals. Lists of supporters or similar are not permitted.

    3. Language: Proposals must be written in English.

Why Not?: The existing ruleset has been refined over a long period of time, and found solutions to countless issues and corner cases. While it may not be universally accessible, many find it an enjoyable challenge to navigate the current restrictions, and the result is that proposals that do reach WA Delegates for consideration are of a high standard, which helps to maintain a coherent body of work. If the ruleset is less stringent, WA Delegates may approve poor proposals, which could be voted into law.

Proposal 3: WA Secretariat Voting Recommendations

Target Improvement: Despite its impact on thousands of nations, most have little awareness of the General Assembly's main affairs, including any relevant debate, history, or discussion of At-Vote Resolutions. They lack ready access to information on the merits of proposals or on wider legislative agendas at play, and there is no frictionless pathway for drawing them into it.

By bringing debate directly into gameside WA pages, more players can be invited to explore the GA's depths. By establishing a process for electing Secretariat members with the right to post on those pages, we increase general interest in General Assembly affairs. Having convenient access to Secretariat voting recommendations will provide WA member nations with a new level of reasoned opinion to help guide their vote, and may decrease their tendency to follow whichever way the voting happens to be going, leading to more interesting votes.

Actions:

  1. World Assembly Secretariat: Create a new group of five positions, including Secretariat-General and four regular members, who have the power to embed dispatches directly into At-Vote Resolution pages. It is broadly intended that these dispatches will lay out the case for or against (or both), but the WA Secretariat will have significant scope to determine their own protocol, e.g. a majority opinion plus a dissent, or something else.

  2. Elections:

    • Elections are held every 6 months for five positions on the World Assembly Secretariat. The candidate with the most votes becomes the Secretary-General, and the second most the Deputy Secretary-General. The remaining three are regular WA Secretariat members.

    • The election mechanics used in previous Secretary-General elections will be used, reduced to two rounds of 24 hours. After the first round, only the top 25 get through. In the second round, the candidates are listed in order of votes received in the previous round; candidates eliminated in the first round (or who did not enter it) may not enter at a later stage.

    • Nations are eligible to run if they are World Assembly members, five endorsements, and submit a campaign bulletin.

    • Only World Assembly member nations with a population of 30+ million may vote in the elections.

    • Each member of the Secretariat can provide a voting recommendation on each proposal that reaches the voting floor, prominently listed beside the proposal. This can link to a dispatch. The Secretary-General's recommendation is the most prominent.

    • An "Events" telegram filter will be introduced for telegrams campaigning to avoid the previous challenges from regular WA Campaign TGs being blocked en-masse.

    • Regions may "boost" for a candidate, to show their support for their campaign.

Why Not?: Any popularly elected candidate may be motivated by factors other than their altruistic love of high-quality legislation. Poor or inactive candidates would not be able to be replaced quickly. Moderators or staff appointees such as GenSec could do the same job.

Proposal 4: Encourage roleplay within the GA forum

Target Improvement: Roleplaying is a major part of NationStates, with a significant portion of players enjoying the color and richness it can bring. Within the forum community, the General Assembly has a long history of roleplay, although not all participants choose to engage with this. Today it is largely restricted to proposal threads and the Strangers' Bar. Occasionally site staff have discouraged attempts at roleplaying in other threads. This limits the depth to any roleplaying, and well as impacting its appeal, as it can be subsumed by politicking in voting threads.

Actions:

  1. Encourage roleplay threads: Players are permitted to post relevant roleplay threads in the General Assembly forum, even when not about a specific legislative effort.

Why Not?: Those who don't like roleplaying may not want to see the GA forum cluttered up with threads of no interest. When RP and no-RP threads exist in the same forum side by side, there is inevitable leakage, as players don't notice which one they're in, which can be destructive to immersion, and require additional moderation.

Proposal 5: Bespoke statistical effects

Target Improvement: Today, GA proposals must select from a very limited set of statistical effects, which straightjackets what authors can cover in their proposals. The effects of proposals are not coded in a consistent manner with issues effects, which sometimes causes hostility from players who encounter stats changes they don't feel were fairly signposted by the text of resolutions. Category effects also lack finesse, and therefore only vaguely reflect the legislative intent of the author.

As an example, under this proposal, a resolution that implements a universal healthcare system will enable the nation policy "Universal Health Care" -- today, this is not possible via a General Assembly resolution covering the same topic.

Actions:

  1. Removal of category system: Allow authors wide-ranging freedom to cover a broader range of topics, as well as to author proposals that cover multiple fields.

  2. Bespoke statistical effects: A staff team will craft statistical effects for each proposal. This team will be composed primarily of Issues Editors, supported by the Tech team. We are open to recruiting additional General Assembly experienced players to assist with these duties.

  3. Display effects of resolutions: A new page will allow players to review recent stats changes in their nations, whether from issues or General Assembly resolutions. This shows the same depth of changes as players currently get immediately after answering an issue.

  4. New quorum procedure: The coding of stats will begin when a proposal reaches quorum, and can be finalized at any time between then and when a proposal reaches the voting floor. It is anticipated that proposals with a low likelihood of attaining quorum will have their stats coded later or not at all.

Why Not?: This proposal adds significant overhead to the process of passing a Resolution, which may prove difficult to sustain. It creates potential tension between proposal authors and those who codify their stats. It may create uncertainty, with WA Delegates not wanting to approve a proposal until they know what its stats will be.

Proposal 6: Reworked user interface for WA pages

Target Improvement: The in-game World Assembly pages are amongst the oldest parts of the site. Lists of resolutions and proposals were designed for a much smaller set of content. It is a challenge for players to identify which resolutions are in effect, and to find out what areas have been covered by legislation already. There is no obvious pathway between resolutions and related forum discussions or dispatches, which constricts and fragments debate and discussion.

Actions:

  1. Resolution Search: Allow gameside World Assembly resolutions to be searched by keyword.

  2. Resolution Filters: Allow displayed resolutions (either all, or search results) to be filtered based on repealed status, and author.

  3. Forum links: Allow authors to enter a topic ID for submitted proposals to link to their existing forum thread; if one is not entered, then auto-create a forum discussion thread upon the proposal being deemed legal. The link to this thread is displayed clearly on gameside pages for all legal proposals.

  4. Dispatch links: Auto-create a Dispatch tag for all new (legal) proposals, so that relevant voting recommendations on a proposal can be tagged with this, and be accessed via a gameside link adjacent to the proposal.



Timescales

We are working to the following timescales that allow for full consideration of our proposals as well as achievable development time:

  • Aug - Sep: player feedback on this working paper

  • Oct: internal discussion and final decisions

  • Nov: final announcement

  • Dec - May: implementation of agreed changes

  • Jun - project concludes with implementation of "Blank Slate".

(Note that these are subject to change depending on the package of changes that it is decided to implement.)

This Working Paper is the result of sustained development by many people, and its proposals exist because we believe they will make significant positive changes to the General Assembly. We are running a lengthy period of player feedback to surface issues and ideas we haven't thought of, and to modify, rework, or even drop proposals accordingly. As such, at time of publication all of the above should be considered planned but not set in stone.

Please note development decisions are not based on perceived popularity nor the intensity of any objections, but on the merits of arguments made.

GA 2026 Discussion Thread

Read dispatch

Discussion Thread

Candlewhisper in the Wind

by Sedgistan
Sun, 20 Jul 2025

We don't usually announce staff retirements, but this one is a little different. Candlewhisper Archive has served as an Issues Editor for nine years, during which time he's edited over 400 issues - a quarter of the total we have on the site, and three times as many as any other Editor.

As well as his prodigious editing output, Candlewhisper Archive led the team for many years, driving improvements to world census rankings and the statistical effects of issues, as well as somehow finding time to author a significant number of issues too - some of which are yet to be published.

Candlewhisper Archive leaves an indelible mark on the site, and we thank him for his contributions.

If you want to find out more about daily issues and the process of authoring and editing them, check out the Got Issues? forum.

Announcing the winners of Issues Contest: No Pun In-ten-ded

by Raionitu
Mon, 14 Jul 2025

This post comes courtesy of Issues Editor Raionitu.

After reviewing over 140 submissions, the Issues Editing Team is ready to announce this year's winners! Competition was fierce, with a lot of strong entries, but the winners of Issues Contest: No Pun In-Ten-Ded, in alphabetical order by author, are:

As per usual, these issues are now guaranteed to be published, so be on the lookout for them in the near future. Half of these winners will be getting their first Issues Author badge! Congratulations to all!

Issues Contest: No Pun In-ten-ded

by Raionitu
Sat, 31 May 2025

This post comes courtesy of Issues Editor Raionitu.

Do you have a pun-chent for witty banter? Or are you a craver of shiny badges on your nation page declaring you an Issue Author? Then don't miss this pun-in-a-million chance with our Tenth Absolutely-Annual Guaranteed Issue Contest - "No Pun In-ten-ded"! Winners will have their names eternally enshrined on the news page, and their submissions are guaranteed to be added to the game.

Each player is only allowed one entry, any additional entries will be pun-ished with disqualification, so you'll want to be sure you pick a topic you're happy with and strive to create the strongest draft possible. If you're pun-familiar with writing an issue, we recommend reading through the Got Issues FAQ and the issue-writing guide, posting your draft on the Got Issues? subforum and listening to feedback to improve your would-be issue and ensure your pun-ctuation and grammar are up to scratch.

Entries must be submitted during the month of June by going to the usual issue submission page and checking the box to confirm you are entering it into the Issues Contest. Be sure you're happy with your draft before hitting submit; you won't be able to access your submission afterwards.

For more information, please see this thread. Good luck!

N-Day12: Aftermath

by Chingis
Mon, 03 Mar 2025

It would not be a true N-Day without us seeing the defending champion ravaged by swathes of nuclear strikes. Condolences to outgoing champions Horsemen of the Apocalypse, who put up a valiant fight but were overwhelmed by a coalition of our top four finishers this year.

Congratulations to Jellyfish Elite Fighting Force, taking second despite facing numerous barrages from the largest faction of the event; Starlight Brigade, taking third despite being the smallest of this year's megafactions; STALKER, taking fourth as a rising powerhouse after the merging of several middle-sized factions from last event; and European Defence Force, who came in 5th place on the day, rising above the other small-to-medium-sized factions.

A special congratulations is in order for our champions Anime Nations Against Liberals, who stormed from behind to turn their loss in N-Day11 into fuel for their decisive victory this year, becoming the second faction in N-Day history to surpass one million points and collecting arrears by nuking HotA to the bottom of the leaderboard.

The Final Leaderboard:

FactionScoreNationsRegion
1. Anime Nations Against Liberals 1,016,620 6,445 Nations Anime Nations Against Liberals
2. Jellyfish Elite Fighting Force 474,812 5,557 Nations Jellyfish Elite Fighting Force
3. Starlight Brigade 375,746 1,186 Nations Refugia
4. STALKER 154,444 2,467 Nations STALKER
5. European Defence Force 61,967 382 Nations Europe
6. The Trident Alliance 53,094 366 Nations The Trident Alliance
7. Northern Kerbalia 40,582 67 Nations Kerbals of the North
8. Nova Arctic Republic 30,478 57 Nations Arctica
9. RAILGUN 28,709 32 Nations RAILGUN
10. The RainDrop Pact 28,280 184 Nations RainDrop Pact HQ

See the full final leaderboard

Highest Scores Per Nation (min 10 nations):

FactionScore per NationNationsRegion
1. RAILGUN 897.2 32 Nations RAILGUN
2. The Peaceful Nations of Chad 866.4 10 Nations The Independent Republics of Chad
3. ManHorse of the Apocalypse 814.0 13 Nations Chaos land
4. Shahids 708.0 12 Nations Franz Josef Land
5. Random Region Nuclear Command 698.5 13 Nations THE RANDOM REGION 2 ELECTRIC BOOGALOO
6. Northern Kerbalia 605.7 67 Nations Kerbals of the North
7. The War Maschint 556.1 15 Nations Maschint Alliance
8. Nova Arctic Republic 534.7 57 Nations Arctica
9. Aerospace Defence Command Of Valdoria 423.3 10 Nations Valdoria
10. Mimogoma Nuclear Arms Trustfund 332.8 14 Nations Mimogoma Pact

And for the number enthusiasts among you, here are the global stats for this N-Day:

  • 532 factions were created.

  • 36,401 nations joined a faction.

  • 35,209,108 nukes were targeted.

  • 29,266,009 nukes were launched.

  • 9,252,114 shields were deployed.

  • 1,732,862 shields were deployed by the shield bank.

  • 18,386,153 strikes occurred for 2,934,053 radiation.

Thank you for launching!

N-Day12: Skyrocket and Mushroom your Career!

by Klaus Devestatorie
Wed, 26 Feb 2025

Thank you again for coming. I understand that interviews on short notice about jobs you know nothing about are strange, and I'd like to thank you for trusting us. You were invited because you have a very... particular skillset. Don't let anyone tell you it's just retail-based customer service. In truth, we've been observing you for a while.

Firstly, we can see that you have a strong understanding of the inventory database at your current place of employment. You have a good handle on how much stock you have on hand, when to requisition more, and how best to deliver it when ordered.

Secondly, we can see that you're very good at pushing buttons. You work with many buttons around you, and not just on the cash register. Do you press them a lot? Do you like pressing them? Are any of them big, or red? What about both? Excellent.

Most importantly, and the thing that really drew our attention – we were inspired by the way you ruthlessly beat that elderly man to death with an EFTPOS machine after he complained about the transaction fees. That's an important instinct in this role, and you'll need to trust it to succeed.

We think you'll be a good fit for us, a real asset. It's a once-off role, in a bunker two miles underground. The pay is very generous, and the perks include free gym access and not burning to death in the unimaginable infernoes of nuclear damnation. What do you say? Are you up for the challenge?

Nuclear resolution begins in:

Click here for your local time:

On your way to work, be sure to pre-register for your chosen faction here, and head on over to Vault 41 for some unusual water-cooler banter. Once here, onboard yourself with the dispatches below:

OVERVIEW

N-Day is an opportunity for nations to come together and exchange nuclear weapons in a fiery Armageddon of mutually assured destruction.

To Participate

  1. Once registration opens, you can create or join a Faction. Nations outside a Faction can't attack or be attacked. You can join a Faction when you're ready and leave when you're not (to stay safe).

  2. When the event begins, nations will be assigned a random Specialty and begin to accumulate Production. You will now be able to spend Production, fire nukes and deploy shields.

  3. Watch your nation automatically generate Production. Use Production to build Nukes and Shield.

  4. Launch Nukes at other nations and use Shield to shoot down Nukes that are launched at you.

Tactics

The simplest way to play N-Day is to join whichever Faction seems most fun and start targeting Nukes at its enemies while shooting down anything incoming. Your Faction page's icon bar shows everything you need to know, including who's targeting anyone in your Faction, and who your fellow Faction members are targeting.

Attacking: Step by Step

  1. On your Production screen, spend some of your Production to build Nukes. These go into your Stockpile.

  2. On another nation's Nuke page, click/tap the TARGET button and select the number of Nukes to use.

  3. Once Targeted, it takes 10 minutes for your Nukes to reach a READY state (3 for Intel Specialists). Note that your Targeted page is public: All nations can see who is targeting whom.

  4. When your Targeted Nukes are ready, click/tap LAUNCH.

  5. Your Nukes are now categorized as Launches for you and Incoming for your target. Launched Nukes take 3-5 minutes to reach their target. When they do, they earn Strikes for you and inflict Radiation on the target, which reduces their rate of Production. This also earns Score for your Faction and reduces the enemy Faction's Score.

Defending: Step by Step

  1. On the Production screen, spend Production to build Shield.

  2. Find Launched Nukes to destroy. Your top priority is any Incoming Nukes launched at you. Secondarily, you may wish to target Incoming Nukes on anyone in your Faction (see your Faction's Incoming page), and also keep an eye on Targeted Nukes that may threaten you or your Faction in the near future.

  3. Click/tap DESTROY to deploy 1 Shield per Nuke.

Strategy

Strategically, it may be wise to avoid attacks on nations or Factions until you are confident of obliterating them, since this eliminates the possibility of counter-attack. Smaller-scale attacks, which damage but don't destroy an enemy, can lead to an escalating series of grudge-related nuclear exchanges.

On the other hand, targeting an enemy can be an effective warning. And it takes Nukes 10 minutes to be ready to launch, so you can't leave it too late.

Scoring

Each Nuke that reaches a target causes Radiation damage, which reduces the target's rate of Production generation and counts as a Strike for the attacker.

A Faction's Score is calculated by

RADIATION_GIVEN - (0.25 * RADIATION_TAKEN)

Duration

N-Day lasts for 24 hours, after which point, an Arms Control Agreement means that no Nukes can be launched. (In-flight nukes can still land, however.)

The "winner" is the Faction with the highest score; if, that is, nuclear war can be said to have a winner. Which we say it can. It's the Faction with the highest score.

FACTIONS

Once registration opens, Factions can be founded by a Regional Officer of any region. Any and all Regional Officers of that region can update the Faction's official text to issue instructions to Faction members.

Factions can be made open to all members, or restricted to the region's members only.

You can leave your Faction, which is a good way to stay safe if you're signing off for the night. However, you can only do this if you're not engaged with the enemy! That means:

  • You must not have any nukes targeted or launched at another nation; and

  • No nukes can be targeted or incoming on you.

Note that in practice, this can make it challenging to leave a Faction, since you may be frequently targeted.

While outside a Faction, you cannot be targeted, and do not generate any Production.

Before joining, it's worth making sure a Faction isn't currently under mass bombardment.

Bikini Atoll and Kicking Faction Members
Bikini Atoll is a special, game-created, faction. It operates as a normal faction, but nations that are kicked from their factions will be transported to Bikini Atoll. All targets on the nation persist. Nations can be kicked from their nuke page, by Regional Officers in the factions founding region. Nations with incoming nukes cannot be kicked.

SPECIALTIES

Nations are randomly assigned a specialty.

Military Specialists build Nukes faster: They receive 50% more Nukes when converting Production.

Strategic Specialists build Shield faster: They receive 50% more Shield when converting Production.

Economic Specialists can accumulate more Production: Their production cap is four times larger than the other specialties.

Intel Specialists can finalize targets faster: Their targetted nukes reach READY in 3 minutes instead of 10. They have no Production advantages.

Cost of Nukes/Shield in Production Points

Military Specialist

Strategic Specialist

Economic Specialist

Intel Specialist

1 Nuke

2

3

3

3

1 Shield

6

4

6

6

PRODUCTION
Non-WA nations automatically generate Production at a rate of 15 Production per 2 minutes, up to a maximum of 750 (3000 for Econ Specialists).
WA nations automatically generate Production at a rate of 150 Production per 2 minutes, up to a maximum of 2500 (10000 for Econ Specialists).

Production can be spent on Nukes or Shield.

WA NATIONS
World Assembly members will accumulate Production 10x faster than non-WA members, and have their Production limits increased by around 3x.
It is allowed to switch WA membership to receive this benefit for different nations, but (as per regular site rules) you are only allowed to have one nation in the WA at a time.
Keep in mind that if your Production is over the non-WA limit when you resign membership on a nation, the Production on that nation will decrease down to the limit (i.e. if you resign with 75 Production on a non-Econ nation, the Production will drop to 50).

We ask that you refrain from switching WA for N-Day purposes more than once every two minutes. You will not be punished for this, but it is against the spirit of this change to the event mechanics.

NUKES

Nukes are purchased with Production, kept in stockpile until ready, then targeted and launched at an enemy nation.

Launched Nukes take 3-5 minutes to reach their target. While in-flight, they can be shot down by any nation using Shield. If they're not, each Nuke generates 0.25% of Radiation in the target and earns 1 Strike for the attacker.

SHIELD

Shield can be used to knock out Launched Nukes. You can shoot down any in-flight Nukes regardless of who they are aimed at.

Locate in-flight Nukes under Launches or Incoming, and use the DESTROY button to eliminate them at a rate of 1 Shield per Nuke.

It is possible to waste Shield if multiple nations deploy Shield simultaneously to knock out the same Nukes. However, there is a chance for duplicate shields to 'overflow' and take out the next set of incoming nukes instead.

Shielding a nation in another faction to yours incurs a 50% penalty on the cost to shield (it takes 1.5 shields to knock down one nuke).

SHIELD BANK

It is possible to donate shield to the Faction Shield Bank, which will automatically shoot down incoming nukes. This alone will not stop all incoming nukes, however, as the rate at which the Shield Bank shoots down nukes is dependent on the number of incoming nukes and its size. The exact formula per minute is given by:

MAX(MIN(0.15 * FACTION_INCOMING, 0.25 * SHIELD_BANK_SIZE), 200)

TARGETING

Target a nation by viewing their Nuke page and clicking/tapping TARGET. You may then select how many Nukes to target from your Stockpile.

It takes a short time for a Targeted Nuke to reach a READY state, after which it may be launched. This is normally 10 minutes, but Intel Specialists are faster, finalizing targets in only 3 minutes.

If not launched after 1 hour, Targeted Nukes automatically return to your Stockpile.

RADIATION

Radiation is generated in a nation when it is struck by a Nuke.

Radiation proportionately reduces a nation's Production generation rate by 0.5% per 1% of Radiation. For example, 20% Radiation reduces Production generation by 10%.

When a nation is 100% Radiated, it is destroyed and no longer able to launch any Nukes nor use any Shield.

Radiation is irreversible.

You can leave a Faction when irradiated, but this does not affect your Faction's score.

SCORE

A Faction's score measures strikes and radiation that occurred while those nations were a member. It is unaffected by nations joining or leaving the Faction.

GLOSSARY

Term

Explanation

Production

Used to buy Nukes and Shield. Automatically generated by all non-destroyed nations in a Faction.

Nuke

Unholy instrument of death and destruction.

Stockpiled Nuke

A Nuke that has been purchased with Production and is sitting idle, awaiting a target.

Targeted Nuke

A Nuke that has been targeted at a nation. A targeted Nuke takes 10 minutes to achieve a READY state, after which it may be launched.

Launched/Incoming/In-Flight Nuke

A Nuke that has been launched at a nation and is currently chewing up 3-5 minutes of in-flight time.

Shield

A unit of defensive technology. Possibly involves lasers or satellites or something.

Strike

A record of how many Nukes have successfully landed on targets.

Radiation

A record of how many Nukes have struck the nation. Reduces Production generation.

Faction

A group of nations sharing a common interest in survival and/or bloodlust.

Score

The Faction Score

Read dispatch

This is a list of all planned changes, with some commentary, for NDay12 (1st March 2025). The final numbers on this dispatch are liable to tweaks, and this is not a strict guarantee that all of the below will be included in the event, as development and testing time is limited for our volunteer techies. This iteration of NDay contains a slew of technically challenging changes. As such, despite testing, there is a strong possibility of minor or even major bugs being present.


New Additions

Faction Power Modifier
Factions are now rated with an internally calculated power score, depending on their size. Weaker factions will gain a strong increase in shield effectiveness against stronger factions, while stronger factions will deal less radiation and gain less score per strike. For example, a faction with three times the power score will deal 1.5 times less radiation per strike than normal, while the weaker faction will only have to expend 0.5 shields per nuke to defend. The faction shieldbank does not experience any increase in efficiency and will continue to shoot down nukes at a rate of 1:1. Cross-Faction shielders will also not experience any increased efficiency benefit in shielding. The exact numbers for this effect can be found at the top of the enemy faction page.

Radiation Decay
All nations with less than 100% radiation will now naturally lose radiation at 1% per 2min. Fully destroyed nations are exempt from this effect.

Cleanup Specialists
Intels have been archived, and are now replaced with Cleanup Specialists. These specialists gain no advantage to production or nuclear warfare but carry the unique ability to heal 10 radiation for the cost of 600 production on any of their Faction-mates, including themselves. This ability can be used to bring a nation back from the dead, but will not restore the lost production and stockpiles. Every use of this ability will generate +5 Score for the faction that the Cleanup Specialist is in.


Minor Changes

  • Minimum targets increased to 40

  • Maximum Shieldbank value set to 65 thousand

  • Incoming view now displays the number of shields required to shoot down the incoming nukes


Bug Fixes

  • Cleared old faction endorsements

  • Can now endorse Bikini Atoll

Read dispatch

Love is Meh

by Electrum
Sun, 23 Feb 2025

Some people say love is the best thing in the world. I say it's just a bunch of neurotransmitters in soupy brain juice.

Tired, weary artisans across the world have somehow combined abstract concepts such as Jealousy, Vanity and Affection to create Clingy Children, Hollywood Producers and Movie Nights. Then Year's Supply of Tin Foil, Explosive Backdrafts and Suppressed Giggles were made. But there were also items that were left to be discovered. Like the Comfortable Silence. Now the zoomers will never learn how to sit in comfortable silence.

Falling in love is irrational. You open yourself to heartbreak. Why would anyone want to do it then? Perhaps it's to get a sense of connection and togetherness. The last hour of the competition illustrated both of these concepts when the top two teams were neck and neck trying to find the last few items that would send their Wonder over the top. The winners managed to find Shotgun Wedding. Relief. Pure joy. Camaraderie. Whereas the losers, well, they were unsuccessful.

In the hours after the competition, we observed the following statistics:

  • Wonders created: 2,754
  • Resources contributed: 500,506 which was made up of:
    • Affection: 97,147
    • Passion: 59,434
    • Friendship: 64,880
    • Esteem: 61,595
    • Vanity: 55,440
    • Jealousy: 65,664
    • Empathy: 54,944
    • Generosity: 41,402
  • Common items crafted: 205,918
  • Uncommon items crafted: 40,160
  • Rare items crafted: 5,721
  • Epic items crafted: 490
  • Legendary items crafted: 25
  • Total items crafted: 252,314
  • Items lost due to failed crafting attempts: 14,774

Now, without further ado, these are the 7 Most Lovely Wonders of the World as determined by the World Assembly gnomes:

  1. PNSK–UCSN Tower: Who knew a tower can just ooze with romance? This one certainly does, winning an Awards Show Sweep for its elegantly placed yellow flowers dotted around the building. The building was created for, and we quote, ‘the pride of the region Persatuan Negara Sosialis Kapitalis (PNSK) / United Socialist Capitalist Nation (USCN).’ A name as contradictory as love itself.
  2. Hiyashi Tower: Who knew a tower can just ooze with romance? This futuristic tower in Tenkyo, Kandorith, is the home of the shady but influential Hiyashi Corporation. The conglomerate is powered by advanced AI and has a finger in every pie including home security, financial services, and key lime. Little wonder then it is the setting of many True Crime Documentaries.
  3. The Supreme Temple of Saint Eliadis, Goddess of Love and Light: Nothing says true love like this garishly pink and marbled megastructure on the island of Valheaven somewhere around, near or in the general vicinity of the Terren Dominion. The temple celebrates love (of course), light (makes sense), and the Warrior Goddess herself, Saint Eliadis (never heard of her). Regardless, this impressive wonder is the sight of many Happy Couples, at least 19 of them, if you wanted to be exact.
  4. Macratwix HQ: When people think of Wonders they think of impressive monuments. Like a Supreme Temple. Or two towers. This one? You can't even begin to visualise it. That's because no one knows what it actually looks like. We can only surmise this is some kind of candy factory somewhere in Macrasetia because they say they can caramelise caramel. Within the confines of the HQ they have six Memorial Hospitals, which makes a lot of sense if they are relying on an overworked race of little people to make candy.
  5. The Obsidian Wedding Ring: What better way to celebrate love than this Obsidian Wedding Ring, which celebrates the union of the Emperor of Kantrias and a silver dragon. It's all a bit confusing and perhaps the story is metaphorical but if it's not, love is love. Just looking at this ring is enough to give you a Self-Actualizing Experience which gives you the realization that participating in Gameplay is not all that. How haunting. But lovely. But haunting.
  6. Match Scorinator: Quite frankly, I don't even want to know how the Match Scorinator operates. Those people over in NS Sports have created a cooked random number generator hooked up to a love tester machine which requires your zodiac sign and a credit card number to figure out if your relationship will last. For me, I already know the answer. No. The Match Scorinator created the first legendary in this event, the Poor Life Choice, which is ironic because coming second in this event was probably their second poor life choice.
  7. The Even Bigger Concrete Slab: The World Assembly gnomes, ever fickle, have declared for the second year in a row that a concrete slab is the world's best wonder. Correction. An ‘even bigger’ concrete slab. Those poor sods over in the South Pacific can't help but build concrete slabs. Perhaps this slab is the ultimate expression of love after all - getting together on Valentine's Day to create a boring, grey expanse. At least this was the site of the world's first Shotgun Wedding.

A wonder is nothing without its resources and they have to come from somewhere. Below is the list of the people who toiled the most in the Kakuro mines (or the Fifteen-tile mines - it's hard to tell).
NationAmount
Stuffed stuffing32,002
Terran Draconia21,694
Kandorith20,262
The Terren Dominion18,799
Macrasetia15,144
South Newlandia14,445
Tepertopia10,000
NDR6,868
Khoronzon6,773
Sylestone6,721

In all seriousness though, thank you for participating in this event! Props to the tech team who has worked really hard to vastly improve the experience of builders with the well used build queue. And thank you to the editing team for creating a great list of recipes for people to discover. And, just a tip for aspiring builders and crafters next time - make sure to answer your issues to improve your stats which will help you generate more resources!

Love is Wonderful

by Pogaria
Thu, 13 Feb 2025

Some people say love is the best thing in the world.

Those people must not have a very active imagination. I mean, have you seen the Wonders of the World? Last year, the hard-working paper-pushers of the World Census finally got out of their offices and scouted out the most fascinating, most extreme, and most impressive sites that this great big planet of ours has ever hosted. Their last list of Wonders featured everything from the Inverted Pyramids of Maxtopia to an alien monolith that was once thought to be just an enormous concrete slab but now secretly runs all of our AI systems.

Of course, those Wonders seem just a little more special when you have someone there by your side to see them with. Especially at this time of year, people like to focus on love. But there are more types than you might think — the ancient Greek philosophers had half a dozen words for love. For example, philia is brotherly love, the thing that prevents you from throttling your siblings or neighbors when they're playing loud music at midnight for the seventeenth night in a row. Eros means romantic love, the one that everyone usually thinks of. But my favorite might just be philautia, the love that you have for yourself. You can't always convince other people to love you, but you can always love yourself.

And speaking of self-love, we want you to know that NationStates is here for you, offering a welcome distraction from the whole maudlin pink heart and diamond ring thing with a whole new set of vaguely love-themed Wonders for you to build and explore, courtesy of myself (Pogaria), Verdant Haven, and our hard-working technical and admin teams. It might not take away the pain of being single on Valentine's Day, but being the first person who figured out how to craft a Life Well Lived might give you a boost towards the real thing.

Because today, I think you should love yourself.

The love starts flowing in:

Check out the re-opened Construction Zone while you wait!