CarcassonneBoard

Hello newbie, welcome to NationStates! NationStates is a multiplayer text-based nation state simulator which was created to promote a new novel known as Jenn- oh whoops you drifted off already.

Yeah no .. I'm not going to bore you. You're welcome. The guide is written in chronological order, but you can skip to specific parts using the contents page.

My telegrams are being bombarded. How the f*ck do I stop this spam?

Oof. The first thing most new players get is a cascade of junk mail in their inbox. A large majority of your spam mail are recruitment telegrams which want you to join their region (I'll explain that in the future, but basically they're like tribes or clans).

But right now you don't give a sh*t. Firstly, we need to stop more garbage polluting your inbox. To do this, click this link. Under Filter, go to Recruitment and click Block All.

Click update filter when done. Now you will no longer receive more recruitment bullsh*t! Hooray🎊! All you need to do now is to delete your inbox and send angry telegrams telling your spammers to never spam you again.

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What are issues?
Issues are the main feature of NationStates and it's the thing that makes the game fun! You are the leader of your country, and issues are scenarios your country is going through. Each issue has a list of different options you can pick to resolve these scenarios. The fun thing about all the issues is that usually none of the options are 'good'. They all have drawbacks and some of the options you pick can have unintended consequences.

Let's take a look at an example...

Oh dear. In this issue, you basically have two options: force the company to give the pay rise or frankly fire the fish farmers furiously (I apologise for the abject alliteration).

The unintended consequence however is that now your people know if they want something, they can go on strike. So they will do... like all the time. And you'll be getting a f*ckton of strikes now.

To illustrate why this may not be a good thing, I have hired an economist from the Department of the Treasury of His Excellency to draft a graph showing the relationship between economic productivity and the amount of people going on strike:

In other words, your economy is going to die. Oof.

As a side effect of relaxing industrial laws, now thousands of people will randomly be fired (because their bosses don't like them or something), creating mass unemployment. And also.. uh.. rolling in the tanks isn't very.. shall we say.. conducive to democracy I mean like, as a dictatorship this is actually a very very good thing, but this guide is supposed to be "impartial" so pshhh.

So overall, none of the options are 'good' options. They all have glaring flaws in them. So you have to pick the best one out of all your crappy options. But that is what makes this game so fun! There is no 'right' answer, and some options have wildly unanticipated side effects. Issues are important because the way you answer issues affect the statistics and status of your country (which will be explained in more depth in the next question).

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What are civil rights, economy and political freedom? Isn't 'political freedom' an oxymoron?

Civil rights, economy and so-called political freedom are the main gauges of your nation. Every time you do an issue, your civil rights, economy or political freedoms will go either up or down. Your nation classification (in this example, the classification is Civil Rights Lovefest) depends on how much civil rights, economic freedom and political freedoms your country has.

So to roughly recap, here is a table you can refer to tell you what your country is like:

Statistic	Having lots means..	Having little means..
Civil rights	Pot-smoking, gay rights loving, liberty spreading, freedom embracing lovefest	Slavery is a good idea as it gives people jobs which they can never resign from
Economy	GDP is bigger than a potato	GDP is a potato
Economic freedom	Pinochet did nothing wrong	Stalin did nothing wrong
Political freedoms	Rule by ballot	Rule by ballistic missile

Presumably you are a noob, in which case your graph will consist of three straight lines. If you're an old player, you can see something slightly more interesting than straight lines like squiggles, bumps, dramatic falls and exponential rises. *The audience proceeds to go "ooooh"*

Just look at this very exciting graph!

What do you mean you don't care?

However, civil rights, economy and political freedom aren't the only metrics and measurements you can use to gauge your nation. There are also other ways you can measure your nation such as the policies it has enacted (which will be discussed in the next question).

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What are policies? And lul wut since when did I legalise polygamy?

Or, another example, marriage laws. If you have a compassion level that is higher than a literal kidney stone, you would be naturally inclined to legalise gay marriage. However, read the small print very carefully. Or ... SURPRISE BISH💥 You just legalised polygamy. Not what you meant? Sorry, your civil servants got a bit overzealous and now you have this weird law you did not ask for or maybe you did, I mean I won't judge😒.

Like statistics and all the other metrics, policies are reversible. So don't worry if you have a democratic robo-socialist polygamous pot-smoking feudal society. Just give it time, answer the right issues, and it will change.

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So unless if this arouses you in some way...

You really needn't bother. I am only aroused when 100% of money is spent on defending oil- I mean uh self-defence yeah.

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"Holy sh*t. Why are there so many statistics in NationStates?" That's a dumb question. You're playing a text-based simulator you dimwit. What did you expect? "Are you making me ask stupid questions to insinuate and perpetuate stereotypes of my ignorance as a noob?" Yes.

Depending on how you answer every issue, your plethora of statistics change. To see these changes, you can scroll down after answering an issue.

What makes ranks so much more different that the other eight million other statistics in NationStates, is that you can get badges for ranking high on each of these ranks!

These badges appear below your nation's main page and they are usually a source of honour and pride for the owner of the account. Green badges are given to top 10% of nations (of that certain statistic) in the entire game, orange badges are given to the top 5% and golden badges given to the top 1%.

As you can see, this is my own private collection. I'm extremely proud and honoured to have the Top 1% for Public Nudity. "I don't care, do you have any other information regarding ranks?" My golden badge reflects on a sadder tone of general society. Societal progres- "Yeah OK, I'm going then." - WAIT WHERE ARE YOU GOING?

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What are regions?

If you are a newbie, you are probably in one of the five main starter regions: the Pacific, the North Pacific, the South Pacific, the East Pacific and the West Pacific. New nations are automatically randomly assigned to be born in one of these starter regions, s-pacifically known as 'feeder' regions. I refuse to apologise for this pun.

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Welcome to Carcassonne

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Join the World Assembly ❦ Endorse the Emperor & Senate ❦ Join Discord ❦ Become a Citizen ❦ Getting Involved ❦ Questions & Feedback

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Bievenue à Carcassonne! This dispatch is intended to be quick and easy guide to help you get set up in and make the most of Carcassonne.

Step 1: Join the World Assembly.

The first thing you'll need to do before anything else is to join the World Assembly. To join, do the following:

1. Make sure on your settings page that you've provided a valid email address.

2. Go to the World Assembly page and click the button Apply to Join.

3. Check your email for an email with "World Assembly invitation" in the subject. If you don't see it after a few minutes, check your spam folder as well.

4. Follow the link in the email.

Congratulations, you're now a member of the World Assembly! For more on the benefits of being a member, checkout out our World Assembly Engagement Campaign.

Step 2: Endorse the Empress and Senate.

Next, you'll need to endorse the Empress and Senate of Carcassonne. To do this, do the following:

1. Go to the Empress's nation page, Pauline Bonaparte.

2. Scroll down to the bottom of the page.

3. Click the button Endorse Pauline Bonaparte.

4. Repeat these steps for each senator:

   • Ladratia

   • Reside

   • Aason

   • Dragon Empire

   • Porfloxonne

   Endorsing the Empress and Senate helps make the region more secure and influential, and comes with benefits for you as well, For information, see our World Assembly Engagement Campaign again.

   Step 3: Join Our Discord Server

   The next step to settling in is to join our Discord server. This is where we conduct government business, plan military operations and world-build, as well as just hanging out and chatting. Just follow the linked invitation and when you arrive say what your nation is so you get assigned the proper roles.

   Step 4: Become a Citizen

   Once you've endorsed the Empress, you can become a citizen. This will let you participate vote on legislation and in elections, as well as participate in regional government. To obtain citizenship, do the following:

   1. Got the region page for Carcassonne.

   2. Scroll down to the bottom of the page.

   3. Post the following oath in the text box

      I solemnly swear allegiance to the Monarchy of Carcassonne, and affirm that I will uphold the Constitution and laws of Carcassonne and will identify and act in the best interests of the region and its citizens.

   4. Click the Lodge Message button.

   You'll get a message confirming your citizenship once your oath is processed.

   Getting Involved

   Once you're a citizen and on Discord, there are a number of ways to get more involved:

   • Help write our laws. As a citizen, you're a member of the Ecclesia, our regional legislature.

   • Help run the region. As a citizen, you can participate in our government as a minister, diplomat or other executive officer.

   • Run for office: as a citizen, you have the right to stand in elections for the offices of Citizen-Speaker and Minister-President.

   • Join the Grand Army of the Crowned Republic. As a citizen, you can enlist as a soldier in Carcassonne's military and participate in operations.

   • Participate in worldbuilding. Get a spot on the map, write about your nation and collaborate with others in creating our world.

   Questions? Feedback?

   If you have any questions, problems or thoughts, don't hesitate to reach out. You can either telegram Carcaso or ask on our Discord server. And if you found this guide helpful, please upvote this dispatch so that other people can find it.