Welcome to the South Pacific! I am the nation of Ipugao po. *Gives you S.P.I.T., C.R.A.P. (South Pacific Iced Tea and Coffee Ready And Prepared) and our newest products, The Huge Ice Cream Cake and the Fantastic and Ultra Cordillera Koko * Here are some things that will help you get started!
If you found this guide helpful, please upvote the dispatch to help others find it
Welcome to NationStates!
This guide will help if you are a new player to this game or an experienced player looking to expand your knowledge of NationStates.
This guide aims to help you:
Prepare you for the limitless possibilities;
Find out the varying aspects of this game; and
Manage your nation.
This guide is reasonably long, and as such, it is recommended that you refer to the table of contents to aid you in locating the specific information you may desire.
Before this guide begins, I would like to personally express thanks and credit to Testlandia, Euroslavia, and Goddess Relief Office who have kindly provided commendable information and tips to this guide.[1]
What is NationStates?
NationStates is a multiplayer online text-based game which simulates a government setting. It was created by author Max Barry and was released on the 13th of November, 2002 as a means of promoting a novel Jennifer Government. The game has currently 223,380 active nations in 23,734 different regions.[2]
Players (under the guise of their nation) operate their own country by making decisions that have an impact on the economy, society, and culture of their people. The object of the game is to lead a country in the way the player finds the best. At the start of the game, the player chooses a few basic characteristics including the name of the country, flag, motto, currency, national animal, and style of government. Answers to a short questionnaire determine the initial ratings of the country's civil, economic, and political rights. The nation's population starts at five million and increases every day automatically with play.
Issues are political decisions that players make, which shape their nations as a result. The choices a player makes on issues directly affect the nation's civil rights, economic, and political freedom levels, as well as the national tax rate. As time progresses, issues will determine the type of government a nation has, with the game categorizing the type from 'Democratic Socialists' to 'Psychotic Dictatorship'.
A player can decide how often he or she wishes to receive issues by accessing the settings page and choosing from a list of options under the sub-heading New Issues. The options available for selection are:
None;
One per weekday;
One per day;
Two per weekday;
Two per day; or
Vacation Mode (prevent a nation from receiving new issues and extending period after which a nation will be deleted for inactivity, from 28 days to 60 days).
Depending on the options a player selects, they will achieve varying ratings relating to their nation's Economy, Political Freedoms, and Civil Rights (visible on a nation's homepage).
A nation's government type is determined by an algorithm which calculates a nation's civil liberties, economic, and political freedoms and based on this result, allocates the nation a government type appropriate to that nation. There are 27 government types, ranging from Scandinavian Liberal Paradise to Iron Fist Socialists to Psychotic Dictatorship.
To view how many nations there are of each government category, please see the data compiled by Farengeto and provided in the below spoiler (data accurate as of the 8th of June 2020).
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Government Category
Nation Count
Percentage
Inoffensive Centrist Democracy
52643
23.58%
Democratic Socialists
16958
7.60%
Iron Fist Consumerists
16719
7.49%
Anarchy
15750
7.06%
New York Times Democracy
15130
6.78%
Psychotic Dictatorship
13611
6.10%
Father Knows Best State
11356
5.09%
Civil Rights Lovefest
10677
4.78%
Moralistic Democracy
9530
4.27%
Left-wing Utopia
7038
3.15%
Liberal Democratic Socialists
6700
3.00%
Corrupt Dictatorship
6489
2.91%
Capitalist Paradise
5626
2.52%
Corporate Bordello
5236
2.35%
Left-Leaning College State
4705
2.11%
Corporate Police State
4241
1.90%
Scandinavian Liberal Paradise
4198
1.88%
Authoritarian Democracy
3556
1.59%
Compulsory Consumerist State
3056
1.37%
Right-wing Utopia
1933
0.87%
Capitalizt
1598
0.72%
Iron Fist Socialists
1494
0.67%
Conservative Democracy
1005
0.45%
Free-Market Paradise
935
0.42%
Libertarian Police State
901
0.40%
Tyranny by Majority
820
0.37%
Benevolent Dictatorship
772
0.35%
Mother Knows Best State
546
0.24%
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[The following information has been kindly provided by Goddess Relief Office and reproduced here with his express permission. You are invited to read this guide to different issue types for more comprehensive information on this subject.]
NationStates has five different categories in which issues are organized into; general, population-based, issue options, statistics, and special issues.
General issues:
General issues form the majority of issues that a nation will receive. Issues of this type are randomly generated with there being no precondition to receiving them.
Population-based issues are those which can only be unlocked by a nation's population. If a player chooses to dismiss issues of this type when he/she received them or chooses an option that he/she may later regret, the player will still be able to receive population-based issues. However, the player will receive the specific issue later and not immediately after dismissing it. Through such issues, a player will be granted the ability to edit the player's capital city, leader, and national religion.
Issue-option is only unlock-able when a nation chooses a specific option to one issue. The result of the issue and the effect of the decision on the nation will be a catalyst for an Issue-option issue.
Statistic-based issues can be unlocked when a nation has reached a pre-determined statistic relevant to the issue. Depending on how a player chooses to lead his/her nation, different statistics will apply to the nation. For example, a nation which is led in a dictatorial fashion will most likely receive an issue which relates to tyrannical nations, for example, the issue Too Low on Laws, Says Citizens. However, a nation that has high political freedoms would not receive such issues.
Special issues do not occur often and are a rarity. For example, World Assembly Woes are only unlock able by member-states of the World Assembly.
Similar to special issues, there are easter egg issues which reward nations with a unique badge to be displayed on nations' main page. There are several easter egg issues available. However, the methods of attaining them vary. For a more detailed discussion on easter egg issues, please refer to this discussion.
Telegrams
Telegrams are private messages that can be sent between players. When a nation is founded, it will receive approximately two dozen telegrams from regions seeking to recruit new nations.
A player can choose to filter telegrams he/she receives by accessing Telegram Preferences. There are four categories a player can select:
Recruitment: Recruitment telegrams are sent by nations attempting to convince players to join their regions.
WA Campaign: WA proposal authors may send WA-member nations telegrams of this sort to lobby for a player's vote.
Region (official): Founders and (if allowed) World Assembly Delegates may send regional telegrams without the need for stamps. Unless selected, these telegrams will be sent to every nation residing in the region.
External: External telegrams are sent using stamps and in-which the author had not pre-selected the telegram label of 'recruitment' or 'campaign'.
A player may choose to block particular nations from sending him/her telegrams. A player may add a nation to the Ignore List by writing the nation's name in the search box of Telegram Preferences. Alternatively, the player can click on a telegram's timestamp which will link to a page showcasing the individual telegram, with there being a 'Block Sender' link near its bottom-right.
NationStates is a free game however there are upgrades available to a player. One such upgrade is an Inbox upgrade which is part of packages: Supporter, Postmaster, and Postmaster-General.
Supporter will:
remove ads (for faster page loads);
reward with a supporter trophy for your nation page;
last forever;
permanently reserve nation name; and
give a player a 'warm, fuzzy feeling of supporting NationStates.'
Postmaster:
includes the aforementioned benefits of Supporter;
expand folders to hold a 100 telegrams each (up from 20 telegrams);
create 3 additional custom folders; and
create a 'deleted items' folder which will retain a maximum of 100 deleted telegrams.
Postmaster-General:
includes the aforementioned benefits of both Supporter and Postmaster;
expand folders to hold an unlimited number of telegrams;
create an unlimited number of custom folders; and
includes 500 telegram stamps.
Telegram stamps allow players to send multiple telegrams at one single time. Normally, a player would only be able to send a telegram to a maximum of eight nations. Mass telegrams using telegram stamps can reach substantial numbers of nations quickly and easily and provide Delivery Reports which detail who has received a telegram and who has not.
A player can personalize the telegram sent by applying %NATION% to the text of the telegram. This will automatically translate to the nation's name when he/she receives it.
Similarly a player can select a particular group to receive the telegram:
region: <Name> will send a telegram to every nation residing in the region listed.
tag: New<Number> will send telegrams to the aforementioned number of newly founded nations.
tag: Refounded<Number> will send telegrams to the aforementioned number of refounded nations.
tag: NewDelegates<Number> will send telegrams to the aforementioned number of new World Assembly Delegates nations.
tag: Delegates will send a telegram to the every Delegate.
tag: WA will send a telegram to the every nation who retains current membership to the World Assembly.
tab: All will send a telegram to every nation in NationStates.
tag: Welcome will send an automatic greeting to new arrivals in their region. However, telegrams of these sort can only be sent by a Founder or Delegate of a region.
Population
A newly-founded nation in NationStates begins with a population of 5 million. Every 24 hours, the population of a nation increases. The higher the population rises, the greater the population increases per day, up until the population reaches 62 million.
The population of a newly-created nation increases by 1 million per day.
The population of a nation is related to the descriptor of its size. As a nation's population increases, it progresses through a series of size descriptors, which are: fledgling, tiny, small, large, very large, huge, massive, colossal, and gargantuan. As a nation's population increases, it eventually gains several new custom nation traits, including the capital city (250 million), the nation name pretitle (500 million), the nation's leader (750 million), and the national religion (1 billion).
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Population Mark
Change(s)
5 million
The starting population, with the population size descriptor 'fledgling', and a population growth rate of 1 million per day.
7 million
The population size descriptor changes to 'tiny'.
10 million
The population growth rate increases to 2 million per day.
20 million
The population size descriptor changes to 'small'. The population growth rate increases to 3 million per day.
32 million
The population growth rate increases to 4 million per day.
40 million
The population growth rate increases to 5 million per day.
50 million
The population size descriptor changes to 'large'. The population growth rate increases to 6 million per day.
62 million
The population growth rate becomes randomly variable, ranging from 5 million per day to 7 million per day. The population growth rate does not change after this.
100 million
The population size descriptor changes to 'very large'.
200 million
The population size descriptor changes to 'huge'.
250 million
The nation can receive the issue to create a custom-named national capitol.
500 million
The nation name pretitle changes from multiple-choice to a custom text field. The player may submit issues from now on, at the issues page.
750 million
The player will have the option of stating the leader of their nation as well as attributing the national motto to said-individual.
1 billion
The population size descriptor changes to 'massive'. The nation can receive the issue to create a custom-named national religion.
5 billion
The population size descriptor changes to 'colossal'.
10 billion
The population size descriptor changes to 'gargantuan'.
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Dossier
A nation's dossier is a compilation of brief information on other nations & regions which a player can select. It allows the player to easily move between nations/regions the player considers of interest and can be a useful tool in maintaining track of puppet nations a player may have.
The brief information provided in the dossier is limited to the nation's name, the nation's WA category (for example, left-wing utopia), when the nation was last active, the region in which the nation resides, and the WA status of the nation (whether the nation is a member of the World Assembly).
Similarly, the dossier provides brief information on regions that players choose to feature in their dossier. The information is limited to the name of the region, the population of the region, and the name of the region's World Assembly Delegate.
Another feature is Advanced Dossier. This feature allows for greater control of the nations which feature in a player's dossier. As opposed to having to independently select nations, a player can upload a text file to NationStates featuring nations' names. Alternatively, a player can download a text file that contains the identity of the nations in the dossier.
Settings
The settings page allows a player to modify aspects of his/her nation. A player can set the currency, motto, demonyms, national animal, et cetera. The settings page also provides players with the opportunity to change their nation's password, flag, and select banners.
Banners are a rotating, targeted, customizable, unlock-able set of images on the nation's page. There are over 250 banners, which unlock upon achieving various feats, such as developing a strong economy or reaching high levels of political corruption. There are also custom slots for uploading a players' own images, once they have reached particular population levels. For a full list illustrating every banner achievable, you are invited to view this collection.
People, Government, & the Economy
People: A pie-chart and accompanying percentages illustrating the leading causes of death throughout a player's nation, for example, old age.
Government: An illustration and accompanying percentages showing the distribution of your budget, for example, education, environment, healthcare, public transport, and administration. The illustration also details the amount of a player's currency and the percentage of the player's total gross domestic product (GDP) spent on government expenditure.
Economy: An illustration of the division of the public, private, and state-owned sectors. Here, a player can also read the total GDP of the nation and the GDP per person.
Analysis
Each day, there are two updates in NationStates. The major update occurs at approximately 00:00-01:00 Eastern Standard Time/Eastern Daylight Savings Time (EST/EDT). The minor update occurs at approximately 12:00-13:00 EST/EDT. Due to a large number of nations and regions, these updates may take an hour.
In the major update, NationStates generates a World Census Report on a particular subject and will rank all nations and regions from highest to lowest. Such topics include 'Most Extreme', 'Most Cultured' and 'Best Healthcare'. If a nation scores highly in these reports, the player may expect to be rewarded with either a silver or gold badge which will feature on the main page of the player (top 10% and 5%, respectfully).
In NationStates, regions is to a nation how a real-life country/city is to a person. It is a community of nations which generally incorporates at least five basic social values that all regions, regardless of their ideological foundation, are expected to provide and uphold for the benefit of their citizens. These values are security, freedom; order; justice; and welfare. This is not to say that there are no regions in whom's founding ideals differ from those stated. There are thousands of regions in NationStates, each with its own personality and direction, for example, a Pokemon-themed region, a Communist region, or a democratic region.
Different regions have different focus points, some choose to be specifically themed with a general-purpose whilst others are just a casual gathering place for nations. The defining aspect of regions is their home-pages (which you can locate by clicking on a region's link). The regional home-page showcases a wide range of customizable features:
World Factbook Entry;
Regional flag;
Dispatches;
Regional tags;
Embassies;
World Census Report;
Regional polls; and the
Regional Message Board (RMB)
Nations can select the region they want to belong to by various means; accidental stumbling upon, specific searches, recruitment telegrams, looking at regional tags, etc.
For a comprehensive guide to "Building a region", you are invited to view this forum thread.
World Assembly
Given the international diplomacy theme which underpins NationStates, an important aspect of the game is an institution called the World Assembly (WA) formerly known as the United Nations. This is a fairly large component of the game and therefore this guide will detail it under sub-sections (highlighted in bold)
Membership to the World Assembly is entirely voluntary. A player may choose to join this organisation and in doing so, gain them in-game functions of being able to endorse other nations as well as receive endorsements. However, the player also submits their nation to the effects generated by various WA proposals. This may have an inadvertent effect on a nation's statistics, for example, their military situation (ability to construct nuclear weapons may be limited by a WA General Assembly resolution). A player can choose to join the World Assembly by clicking on the 'Apply to join' button in the World Assembly page.
Delegate are elected by a region to serve as their representative at the World Assembly. Unlike ordinary members, they can approve newly-suggested resolutions. Delegates may also have administrative control over their region, though this is entirely dependent on the settings decided with the region's creation.
Becoming a delegate can be an easy or difficult process, depending on the circumstances. To be elected, a nation needs endorsements (a minimum of two) from the majority of members in their respective regions. Whilst a region composed of said-nation and a friend(s) can guarantee the nation the delegacy, larger regions with a vast collection of players are often much more challenging. Not only must the nation convince people to support their cause (and potentially have the current delegate demoted), the nation needs to hold this position by respecting the demands of the region.
Gaining endorsements, you've decided to join a bigger region with little to no support from friends, here are a few tips to receive the endorsements needed: (note: the following is the author's own opinion)
Patience is a godsend. Don't expect to march in some random region and have endorsements thrown at you. You need to prove your place.
Get friendly with some of the other nations, people who you can count on to support your ascent to power.
If they have one, find out about the current delegate. Is he well-liked? Does he listen to the nation's wishes? Does he abuse his power? Use this to your advantage...
NationStates truly is a game of politics and roleplaying. To that end, feel free to blackmail and bribe your peers.
Councils, the World Assembly is divided into two entities; the General Assembly and the Security Council [3]:
The General Assembly is concerned with passing international law: resolutions to improve human rights, environmental standards, and the like. They have an immediate and material effect on all WA member nations, and can change your laws and category. For example, if you are a protectionist nation, and the WA passes a resolution promoting free trade, you may find your nation becoming abruptly more capitalist.
Broadly speaking, the General Assembly does not concern itself with individual nations or regions, but humanity as a whole. It has a vibrant roleplaying community in the General Assembly forum, which debates and drafts legislation.
The Security Council, on the other hand, is very much about specifics. It passes resolutions that Condemn or Commend particular nations or regions, and authorises Liberations, by removing a Delegate's authority to set a regional password (usually to restore order following its capture by invaders). Compared to the General Assembly, it is more concerned with gameplay (regional politics, invasions) than roleplaying.
Both Councils function similarly in that they accept proposals, which enter the voting floor to be voted on as resolutions. Each Council may have a resolution at vote at the same time.
To vote for a resolution, click on its link within the World Assembly tab. You'll be taken to a page giving you the full details, including the category, resolution number, and who proposed the resolution. Below that, you'll find a complete explanation, with the option of voting For or Against.
To pass your own resolution, you need at least two endorsements from members of your region. Once you have those, you can propose your resolution to the World Assembly. However, before people are given the chance to vote on it, it needs to be approved by 6% of the World Assembly Regional Delegates. If it reaches the necessary number of approvals, it will be brought onto the voting floor, where all members of the WA can make your resolution law, or fail to pass it. (note: the following is the author's own opinion)
When you decide to pass your resolution, you have two choices. You can create a brand new one, or you can attempt to repeal an old one.
Creating a new resolution is basically one that does not currently exist. If you do so, make sure you look through all previous resolutions. There's nothing more embarrassing than attempting to introduce laws on toilet paper which already exist...
If you too are angered about the increase of tax on tea bags, then you have the chance to get things changed! You can vote to re-appeal a resolution, which will render the resolution in question null and void. This is normally when old laws conflict with new methods.
Tips on Passing a Resolution:
Gather up support within your region. If it was proposed by someone, all the better!
Spread the word on the forums. There is a section dedicated to the discussion of resolutions. You can make friends and get some critique on your law, which will let you make the edits necessary to give it an air of professionalism.
Don't get too frustrated if your resolution doesn't make it to the voting floor. You can always try again.
Influence is a game-determined categorisation applied to each nation. A nation's influence is a measure of how 'well-respected' a nation is considered in its current region. Nations earn influence in a region the longer they remain there, and the more WA endorsements they have accumulated. When a nation leaves, though, its influence in that region will begin to decline.
Influence serves an important gameplay purpose. The ability of WA Delegates to eject and ban nations from their region, and to password-protect it, is limited by their Influence. Delegates consume some of their Influence to exercise their power, so the more often the Delegate uses their influence, the more difficult it is for them to wield those powers in the future.
When a nation moves to a region, it does not influence within that region. Nations accrue influence in a region by remaining in the region, and by receiving endorsements from the region’s members. Arguably, being a member of the WA has no value unless the nation gains endorsements, the more endorsements one gets, the more influence one will accrue.
The regional influence is equal to the sum of the national influence of all its members (updated each game-update (refer to Analysis)), and is displayed as a ranking on a scale ranging from ‘moderate’ to ‘Extremely High’.
The national influence ranking (ranging from ‘Minnow’ to ‘Hermit’) is determined by the ratio of national influence to total regional influence and the previous WA update.
Influence levels achievable
[align=left]
↓
Influence Level
31
Zero
30
Unproven
29
Hatchling
28
Newcomer
27
Nipper
26
Minnow
25
Sprat
24
Shoeshiner
23
Page
22
Squire
21
Apprentice
20
Vassal
19
Truckler
18
Handshaker
17
Duckspeaker
16
Envoy
15
Diplomat
14
Ambassador
13
Auxiliary
12
Negotiator
11
Contender
10
Instigator
9
Dealmaker
8
Enforcer
7
Eminence Grise
6
Powerbroker
5
Power
4
Superpower
3
Dominator
2
Hegemony
1
Hermit
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Roleplay
[The following advice has been kindly provided by Euroslavia and reproduced here with his express permission. Should you wish to further explore this dynamic aspect of NationStates, you are invited to read the many roleplay guides available in the forum.]
Welcome to 'Getting Started with Nationstates'. This (advice) will provide the basic framework for general rules and learning and all things in regards to how to properly Role Playing in the International Incidents and Nationstates forums. The following is merely a snippet of advice, please visit this forum thread for more comprehensive information and advice relating to roleplaying in International Incidents.
Work things out OOC: First piece of advice is fairly simple; you will find that when you start a roleplay with a nation you may have combat with, you will find that most of the time you will both have different technologies and ideas on how the roleplay will go. As such it’s important to work out any problems OOC before you start the RP. You can do this in MSN, telegram or even in a separate thread… if you don’t do this you may waste a lot of time arguing with the other nation over the power of your weapon, why they aren’t taking enough damage and so on.
Spelling, Grammar and Format: This is a quick addition, but basically if you want to be understood you should make it easier to read for everyone else. You should try and make sure that you’re spelling it reasonable, your grammar is ok and your format makes it easy for people to read. The best way to achieve this is to use a program like Win Word to spell check your post and maybe even point out some grammar problems.
Its freeform baby!: Yeah, I know I should have pointed this out earlier, but it goes without saying. You can RP anything you want and there is little anyone can do about it. Remember, while you can roleplay anything, you can also ignore anything. So while you can RP your nation being the best in the universe, everyone else can ignore such a claim and choose not to RP with you. That’s the beauty of freeform, and it’s the greatest frustration. This is why you should be reasonable.
Be descriptive: This isn’t really as important, but it makes the thread a whole lot better. The more description you put into it, the more interesting it is to read and the more you will enjoy the roleplay on the whole.
Have fun: It gets forgotten a lot of the time but Nationstates is just a game; albeit an addictive game which takes a lot of time and effort for some people. The important thing is to have fun; if you are not having fun then you should try something else. Tired of having wars with everyone? Chill out and try something else, make peace with those you fight or have a peace conference… that way you automatically have a character/diplomatic roleplay.
To garner more information on general roleplaying, the author strongly recommends a visit to the forum thread Roleplaying Tips and Suggestions.
Roleplaying in NationStates is such an exciting and fun aspect of the game, as such, there are thousands of people all around you who would be happy to help you, you need only ask. Similarly, if you are stuck on something or would just like a bit of advice here and there, the forum contains dozens of guides and helpful tips. Always remember, the world is full of possibilities and you are only limited by your imagination.
BBCode
Players not accustomed to formatting may have noticed custom markup tags being used in the regional message board, the NS Forum or in Dispatches. These custom markups help to format a text to make it bold, italics, add images, add url, etc. These are known as BBCode or Bulletin Board Code.
BBCode or Bulletin Board Code is a lightweight markup language generally used internet-wide format posts in blogs and message boards. The BBCode tags usually have a beginning and ending tag similar to HTML. BBCodes are usually indicated by the square brackets [ ] and contain a keyword within the [] tag, and the ending tags have the same keyword with a backslash ” / ” preceding the keyword. These BBCodes are parsed during the run-time to produce HTML or XHTML that can be understood by the browsers. It should be noted that players need to nest the tags properly as otherwise, it might not work.
[The following information has been kindly provided by Testlandia and reproduced here with his express permission. The following list is not exhaustive. To view the full list, please consult with this dispatch, the Complete List of NSCodes.]
These BBCode-like tags can be used in Dispatches, Telegrams, Regional Message Board (RMB) posts, Regional World Factbook Entries (WFEs), and World Assembly proposals. Not all tags are valid for all message types: see below.
An act which prevents a nation from entering a given region.
Cease-To-Exist (CTE)
The deletion of a nation after a period of inactivity lasting 28 days or 60 days if vacation mode is set. A nation can be 'refounded' by the owner by login.
Eject
An act of ejecting a nation from a region. This can be performed by the Founder (with cost to the nation) or by the Delegate (with an influence cost incurred on the Delegate). Nations who have been ejected will relocate involuntarily to The Rejected Realms.
A nation who 'founded' the region and hence is the original inhabitant. The Founder, depending on access to the administration panel, has the power to ban, eject, banject nations, change tags, suppress RMB posts, change the flag, construct and close embassies, and change the World Factbook Entry.
Sinkers
Regions that nations returning to the game, or in the case of The Rejected Realms are ejected from a different region go to. Sinkers include Lazarus, Osiris, Balder, and The Rejected Realms.
Out-of-Character (OOC)
Post of this sort is used to convey messages unrelated to the roleplay, such as informing fellow players that you will be out of town for a week and therefore will not be online in NationStates.
Puppets
Nations created to be used secondary to the primary nation. Some players choose to use puppet nations as WA nations while others choose to use it to boost a region's population. Reasons vary and there is nothing wrong with creating puppets for one's purpose.
Regional Message Board (RMB)
A chat function visible in a region (scroll down the region's homepage). This aspect allows nations to communicate and displays their flag as well as allowing them to 'like' others' messages and quote them.
Telegrams
A private messaging system that acts as emails for NS.
An institute of global governance in NationStates, similar to the United Nations in real-life.
World Assembly Delegate
A nation who possess the largest number of WA endorsements in the region, thereby allowing it to represent the region in the World Assembly.
World Factbook Entry (WFE)
World Factbook Entry is an area visible at the top of a region's homepage which describes the region, etc. Typically, it would state members of the region's governing entity, links to an offsite forum, etc.
References
[1]Testlandia, Euroslavia, and Goddess Relief Office contributed whole information towards sections regarding Bulletin Board Codes, Roleplay, and Issue Types, respectfully.
[2] Exact figures may fluctuate over time as new nations are founded and existing nations are ceasing-to-exist.
HOLD IT! This dispatch is really long. What’s the TL;DR, please?
Well, the game pretty much plays itself, but if you’re looking to get involved in the region beyond the basics, then there are a variety of things you can do:
First, join the World Assembly on the left, and endorse Beepee. This is the simplest way you can help strengthen our region against attack. Read this dispatch to learn more about why this important!
Once you're a member, consider visiting our Office of World Assembly Legislation (OWL) to debate resolutions and get recommendations on how to vote, as well as learning how to write your own WA resolutions.
Want to talk to all of us in real time, to get all your questions answered, to debate what there is to debate, or just to chill and have a drink of South Pacific Iced Tea? Join us on our Discord server.
Are you interested in writing and debating laws, and getting involved in the nitty-gritty of regional politics? Join our regional forum and sign up to be a legislator here.
Interested in helping to craft festivals, events, news articles, and graphics to keep everyone entertained and involved for a long time to come. Join us on Discord
Interested in the military? Do you want to go out into the wide world of NationStates to protect regions from attackers, and take the fight to them if necessary? The South Pacific Special Forces is just the thing for you. Jump on Discord to sign up.
Okay, I want more detail, but start with the basics, please!
So, you’ve just started playing NationStates and you’ve been randomly assigned to the South Pacific region. What now?
There’s already a great FAQ on the site that’s worth reading, but I’ll do my best to give you a basic run through here as well.
Firstly, you will want to get to know your nation and get a feel for how you can mould it to your will. This is done by answering issues, which pop up every six hours or so. [Pro-tip - you can change the frequency that you receive issues in your settings] Each issue has a number of possible decisions to choose from. These will usually cover a range of positions on the political spectrum, but they will also tend to be rather extreme - that’s part of the fun! When you’ve chosen which decision you want to take, you’ll get a screen showing you its effect on your nation, as your stats go up or down in various ways, as well as a humorous tagline which will usually make it sound like you made a bad decision (don’t worry, it’s just being funny).
Answering issues is the only way you can directly change your nation’s stats (except population, which just increases steadily over time as a measure of how long you’ve been playing - population milestones will unlock some new customisation features for your nation, like naming your capital city), and it is, basically the whole of the base game. Anything else NationStates has to offer is kinda added-on.
Indeed, the only other part of the game that connects directly to your nation is the World Assembly. It’s kinda like NationStates’ version of the UN, and if you join it you can vote on resolutions created by other nations, the outcome of which will affect your nation’s stats. You can only have one WA nation. Don’t try and have more than one - it’s a serious offence!
There’s more to being in the WA, but that’s the only part of it that affects your nation’s general stats and is, therefore, part of the basics of the game. We’ll look at the other features of being in the WA later.
Okay, so you said I’d been assigned to a region. What is a region anyway and can I change which region I’m in?
Well, regions in NationStates are communities which your nation can be part of. Each nation can only belong to one region at a time, but you are free to move your nation as much as you like, or you can create multiple nations to experience several regions at once.
The South Pacific is a Game-Created Region (GCR), meaning that it was not founded by an individual player and, as one of the five Pacifics, it serves the purpose of being a ‘feeder’ region, meaning it is where new nations are randomly assigned once they are created, because everybody has to start somewhere.
As such, there are a lot of nations in the South Pacific at any one time and nations come and go quite quickly, but this also means that the region is very diverse and inclusive and this is reflected in the aims of the regional government.
Wait, what? The region has a government?
Yes, but there’s more to tell you about regions first!
Okay…
You can find other regions by searching for them on ‘The World’ page and you can change your nation’s region by visiting the World Factbook Entry (WFE - here’s the South Pacific’s) of another region and then scrolling until you see a button labeled ‘Move [nation name] to [region name]’. Click it and you’re off!
Right. Are you going to tell me about the regional government, now? Is that, like, a roleplaying thing?
Yes, okay.
Firstly, the regional government of the South Pacific (known as the Coalition of the South Pacific) is not a roleplaying government, at least, not exactly. It is made up of individuals within the South Pacific who have been elected to office by others in the South Pacific and, once in office, they have real power over the community and what happens there. In that sense, at least, this is not roleplaying. They are not ‘in character’. It is, however, a kind of gameplay, as it allows people to ‘play’ at politics and enjoy another aspect of being part of this community.
So, how does it work?
Well, regional governments sprang up not long after the game was first created back in 2003. They grew up out of the delegate system, which is where nations which are members of the WA can endorse each other and the nation with the most endorsements in the region becomes the regional WA delegate, with increased voting power in the WA itself. That automatically creates a kind of democracy and, since the regional WA delegate has certain powers (like banning nations and editing the WFE), it became a desirable position and one that people wanted to make sure was used wisely.
The limitations of what is possible on regional message boards made regions begin to form the structures of government on off-site forums and, over time and through the work and effort of many ‘generations’ of players, those structures have evolved into fully-functioning governments.
The Coalition of the South Pacific (found on these forums) is one of the oldest democracies in the game. It has a charter from which all our laws are derived, an Assembly which serves as the legislature of the coalition, creating and voting on laws and presided over by the Chair; a Cabinet consisting of a Prime Minister and the Ministers, respectively, of Regional Affairs, Foreign Affairs and Military Affairs, who serve as our executive; and a local government on the game website consisting of the Delegate and three Local Council members. All of these positions are elected at regular intervals, allowing players frequent opportunity to run for them.
That sounds interesting. How do I get involved?
The best thing to do is to join the forums here and register as a legislator, which will allow you to vote on laws. Then you should probably lurk a little while and look through old threads to see what people actually do in government and how it affects the community.
I’d also recommend joining our Discord chat server. It’s great fun and a lot happens on there which is relevant to the forum-based government. Indeed, in many ways, it’s more active than the forums, with the latter serving as the place to store and action all our laws, debates and votes.
What else is there to do?
There is roleplaying on both the TSP forum and the NationStates forum. Most regions have their own journalism reporting on regional events and are keen to have new writers get involved. Our journalism is run by the Ministry of Regional Affairs, who also organise festivals and events and write guides like this to help welcome new players. You can join us on our Discord server
There is military gameplay, which takes the form of using WA membership and delegate endorsement to ‘raid’ regions, taking over their in-game power-structure to make changes or just say that you’ve done it. Other’s ‘defend’ regions from attacks by raiders who seek to damage a region’s membership or culture. There are also independents, who raid or defend just for fun and don’t seek to cause any damage. (the South Pacific has it’s own independent army - the South Pacific Special Forces, which you can join here, or on their Discord server. There are even special GCRs called Warzones designed just for this purpose.
And of course there’s the usual banter and word games, karaoke competitions, inter-regional festivals - all sorts of things really. There’s always something going on in NationStates!
But don’t be overwhelmed. Take your time, get involved in whatever you feel like whenever you feel like it and don’t stress. Above all, have fun and play nicely with other players!
Hello! Welcome to the South Pacific, and its regional message board, or RMB! It is a vibrant, active place where people from all around the world can hang out and talk. It is the region's primary place of communication, and is open to all types of conversations, debates, and overall fun. However, without some form of rules, the RMB would be a wild, annoying, and downright un-enjoyable place. And so, due to this, rules must be laid down and enforced. These are important to protect everyone's safety, dignity, and sanity. So we all ask that you please take the time to read the following rules, and try your hardest to follow them. Remember, there are consequences for breaking the rules.
Note: The “Fundamental Rule” portion of each guideline is meant as a summary of the rule. The official text of the rule may be found in the “Details” spoiler.
Breaking these rules can result in consequences including warnings, post suppressions, and in the the case of repeated or serious infractions, ejection and banning from the region. The full, detailed Local Council Standard Moderation Policy, which specifies the exact consequences for various levels of rule-breaking, can be found here.
And so, after much introduction, here are your RMB Rules:
1. Say Neigh to Spam
Fundamental Rule: Don't spam. Spamming is bad. It is the first rule for a reason.
Details: Spamming on the RMB is not allowed at all, under any circumstances. Spamming is probably best described as a post that is meaningless and/or unnecessary— for example, a post that repeats the same thing multiple times, a lone emoji or image, multiple posts of the same thing, or a series of posts that have no apparent meaning. It does not matter what your intent is— if your post(s) fits the above definition, it is considered spam and will be dealt with accordingly.
2. English is our Mane Language
Fundamental Rule: Posts on the Regional Message Board must be in English, or include an English translation.
Details: We understand that many of you come from backgrounds where English is not your main language, as players come from all around the world. However, to avoid confusion among people who don't speak your language, we sincerely ask that you post in English only, for ease of communication.
Remember, there are tools like Google Translate to help you. If you speak in another language, please add a translation to English in the same post. Posts with English translations will not be suppressed. For the avoidance of doubt, English means Modern English and not backwards English.
3. Keep Our Region Stable
Fundamental Rule: Don’t ask for people to endorse you on the Regional Message Board. Don’t ask for people to move to another region.
Details: Asking for endorsements on the RMB is not allowed at all, under any circumstances. Ever. Permissions are only made if the requester is a member of the Council on Regional Security or the Delegate seeking to increase endorsement counts for the purposes of promoting regional security.
Similarly, recruiting, or telling people to move to another region, is also not allowed. You may not ask people to join your region on the RMB, whether you are also a South Pacifican citizen yourself or not.
4. So a Horse walks into a bar ...
Fundamental Rule: Roleplay on the Regional Message Board, but do not break any other rules. If you're feeling nice or your roleplay is a bit niche or particularly nation driven, please consider taking your roleplaying to Knowhere or Psomewhere Over The Rainbow.
Details: It's all legal! As long as it complies with the rules. Specifically; remember to keep your roleplays appropriate (as stated in rule IX). The LC has reached a general conclusion on what is appropriate, and if your roleplay does not fit within those boundaries, it will be stopped. So, excessive display of affection, sexually-suggesting roleplay, and the like, are not allowed at all.
Similarly, do not clog the RMB with your roleplay. If you feel it has been going on for a while, either take it to a roleplay region, or cease it all together. Otherwise, it may be interfered with. When the board is dominated by roleplay, it becomes hard for everyone else to communicate with each-other, thanks to the overabundance of posts completely unrelated to what they are doing.
But other than those things, feel free to roleplay to your heart's content!
5. Hold your Horses
Fundamental Rule: Don’t post on the Regional Message Board twice or more in a row.
Details: Double posting, or posting two posts in a row, is considered illegal, as are any other number of posts more than one in a row. All posts after the initial post will be suppressed. If one hour has passed without another post on the RMB a single second post will be allowed
6. Keep your nose in your own feedbag
Fundamental Rule: Don’t reveal other players’ personal information.
Details: It is not permitted to post or otherwise share another player's personally-identifying information (i.e. social media accounts, IP addresses, postal addresses, E-mail addresses, telephone numbers, etc.), and neither is it permitted to post or share information that may not be identifying but is nonetheless of a personal nature (i.e. medical history, relationship status, etc.). The only exception is if the player in question has shared that information themselves and does not mind its dissemination (this sharing or statement of permission must be publically viewable).
Making a claim of serious out-of-character misconduct (e.g. bullying, harassment, sexual harassment, etc.) against someone else, without providing evidence to moderation/administration, is considered malicious harassment, and will be dealt with accordingly. This rule applies to the TSP forum and discord as well.
7. Get Off Your High Horse
Fundamental Rule: Trolling, baiting or flaming of others is not allowed under any circumstances.
Details: Trolling is defined as starting quarrels or upsetting people by posting inflammatory and digressive, extraneous, or off-topic messages with the intent of provoking other nations into displaying emotional responses. Baiting is similar to trolling, and is defined as posting with the aim of angering someone indirectly, directed at a specific person. Flaming is defined as posting insults or other verbal and often personal attacks on other nations. Erudite slams while maintaining a veneer of politeness can also be considered flaming. All three of these are banned under all circumstances.
This is an extension of a simple policy of respect. What may seem like good natured fun to you could be trolling to someone else, and if they tell you to stop, do so. We can and will warn, suppress, and even ban you, as well as record the incident. In severe cases the NationStates Moderators will be contacted, and puppets will not hide your IP address from them.
8. You Canter Break Site Rules
Fundamental Rule: No matter where you are in NationStates, the rules for the game still apply.
Details: TSP is a part of NationStates, and as such, you must follow the rules of the game as a whole at all times. Breaking the game rules will land you in trouble with both the regional officers and NationStates site moderation. See the link below for the list of rules and a quick FAQ page for more details on the game rules.
Fundamental Rule: Don’t post anything that would not be allowed in a PG-13 movie.
Details: Excessive swearing, explicit, suggestive, or excessively violent messages, sexual references, and other such things will be suppressed on sight, and the NationStates site moderators can and will be called to get involved in serious cases. Excessive displays of personal affection (e.g. suggestive roleplayed snuggling, nuzzling, kissing, licking and so on) is also considered inappropriate and will be suppressed accordingly.
Mild swearing may be tolerated, mild sexuality may be at the very most hinted, but explicit or excessive versions of either or both will result in moderation intervention, both from the Local Council and potentially from NationStates site moderators. Derogatory terms are disallowed, and all swearing must abide by all other rules, particularly those about respecting others.
10. Straight from the horse’s mouth
Fundamental Rule: Do not edit someone's post in a malicious way or repost offensive content.
Details: It is illegal to edit what someone else has written when quoting it in order to make it seem like they expressed a view which they didn’t. Quote-editing should be avoided even for comic effect.
When you are responding to someone's post, please quote their post (by pressing the "quote" button), as it makes it less confusing and will alert them to your post.
When quoting an offensive post, delete the content of the post and replace it with "-snip-". Doing so makes the administrators’ jobs much easier.
When quoting long posts, please cut the post down to the particular parts you are responding to, or replace the extraneous material with "-snip-".
11. Crop Your Post
Fundamental Rule: Use spoilers when making or quoting a very long post.
Details: The [spoiler] tag is your friend. When making or quoting a very long post, or one which not everyone might want to read, please add spoilers, so as to avoid taking up a large amount of the page.
If you are giving a spoiler of a recently released book or film, put it in a spoiler tag, to give people who haven't read/watched it a chance. As a general rule of thumb, give a month for films post-release (as release dates may be different in different areas) and two months for book releases.
12. Rein In Rudeness
Fundamental Rule: The golden rule: treat others how you want to be treated.
Details: Remember, there are other, real people behind the nations on the RMB. Everyone here is a human being with emotions and the right to be respected.
While dissent with regional officers (LC, Delegate, CRS, and Ministers) is perfectly acceptable, remember that they are people too, and worthy of basic human decency. The regional officers should be respected at all times just as any other member of the region should.
When debating, always remember to attack the argument rather than the person making it. If you find yourself getting heated, try to take a step back. Personal insults, insults to intelligence, etc. will not be tolerated. The only form of debate banned on the RMB is that over a particular suppression. For more information, see the Help Section at the end of this document.
13. Don't Ride on Foals
Fundamental Rule: Single word or similarly short posts are not appreciated on the RMB.
Details: Single word posts that do not advance conversation are not allowed. If you find yourself wondering if a post is both unsubstantial and too short, it likely is. This rule does not mean you have to post several paragraphs of content every time you want to post. Single sentence posts and single-word replies quoting other posts are still allowed under this rule.
However, at the discretion of the Local Council, posts deemed to be insubstantial and not contributing to the regional discourse will be suppressed. An excellent way to avoid this is to add thought to your posts.
Thank you for reading, and remember to follow these guidelines!
Now sit back, relax, and enjoy your stay here in TSP!
~~~HELP!~~~
If you believe a post breaks the rules and should be suppressed, wish to appeal to have a post unsuppressed, wish to appeal a formal warning, or have any questions about the laws of the RMB, you can contact your current Local Councillors through telegrams:
This nation is controlled by the LC, ensuring all Local Councillors can see your complaints or comments. Remember, the rules of respect apply to telegrams as well as the RMB.
The Southern World Assembly iNitiative (SWAN) is an initiative organized by the regional government of the South Pacific to promote the participation of nations in the World Assembly (WA) and to encourage them to endorse everyone in the South Pacific. The purpose of this initiative is to help nations in this region have voting power on the WA, more endorsements, and more influence which in turn will make the region more secure and active!
What are the World Assembly, Delegates, endorsements, and influence?
The World Assembly is an equivalent of the real-life United Nations. Although it doesn't impact your nation as much as the real-life UN it does impact regions such as this one a lot.
Endorsements are something you can give or receive from other nations. They are a little bit similar to likes on social media websites except they are far more important to a region and nation because they create the thing below.
Influence is something your nation will gain by having endorsements. Influence is very important to the security of a region as it decides how hard it is to remove or ban a nation from a region.
A Delegate or WA Delegate is a nation that has the most endorsements in a region and holds all administrative powers such as moderating the message board, banning/ejecting nations, changing the World Factbook Entry,... In the South Pacific, the Delegate is elected every 6 months by member nations of this region.
Step 3: Endorse all other nations in this region. Click here to know how to do this quickly and to find nations to endorse.
Why should I participate?
Participating in SWAN will give your nation benefits that you can't otherwise get:
Your nation will be able to vote on WA resolutions, deciding how the Delegate votes on WA resolutions via OWL as well as participating in the regional Local Council elections and WA Delegate elections.
This is the easiest way to get a lot of endorsements from other nations and gain influence which will help your own nation and the region in the future.
Your nation will receive awards to commend your effort of participating in this initiative! (Click here to learn more about awards)
Your nation will have a stronger voting power on the WA. (Read this for how)
Sharing your ideas about how to improve this initiative. (How to do that here)
How do I know how well I am and the region are doing?
You can do that by looking at our censuses (Click here to view them) and our statistics page (Click here to view it). We also recommend you to check out this awesome "portrait" of our region (Click here to view it) to get a look at how large and dynamic our region is.
We hope you will enjoy this initiative and that you find NationStates and our community a more cheerful place because of it.
This initiative is an informal joint effort between the Ministry of Regional Affairs, the Local Council, the Council on Regional Security, and some nerds who have no life. (Read more about who run this here)
One of the easiest ways to get awards, increase your nation's endorsement count and influence very quickly (The first step if you want to join the Council on Regional Security) is to endorse a lot of nations in this region, this activity is called endotarting. However, not many people know how to do that efficiently and end up getting bored. In this guide, you'll learn how to endotart the fast way!
The steps:
Step 1: Install a browser extension that provides keyboard shortcuts for NationStates such as NSBreeze or Breeze++ (Please note that Breeze++ is for players who are into something called military gameplay so you may want to just use NSBreeze instead). These two extensions are only available for Google Chrome at this time though.
Step 2: Click on a bunch of nations on the list below using the middle mouse button or pressing your trackpad with three fingers to open them in individual tabs.
Step 3: Press the E key on your keyboard to endorse the nation in a tab.
Step 4: Use Ctrl+Tab to switch to another tab and repeat step 3.
Step 5: Use Ctrl+W to close tabs.
Optional: Each time you endorse a nation, send a telegram to ask that nation to endorse you back.
You can endorse a lot of nations (dozens of them) in a few minutes with this method. Just open a bunch of nations in each tab, use Ctrl+Tab to switch through them fast and each time you switch through, press E to endorse a nation.
The order of nations on the list below does not change so if you feel too tired, you can pause, remember the nation where you pause and resume your endotarting work later from that nation.
This initiative is an informal joint effort between the Ministry of Regional Affairs, the Local Council, the Council on Regional Security, and some nerds who have no life. (Read more about who run this here)
The South Pacific Special Forces (or SPSF) are the South Pacific’s official military. We defend the Coalition, work for the South Pacific’s foreign interests, and just have fun through military gameplay!
What’s military gameplay and why should I be interested?
Twice a day, NationStates updates. It goes through the regions in a set but random order, and within those regions, it goes through the nations in a set but random order. As the game goes through each nation, it counts how many endorsements they have. When it finishes going through the region, it makes the highest endorsed nation the delegate of the region. Delegates can have a lot of control over regions - they can even destroy them, if the founder isn’t around. Military gameplay is the art of controlling who becomes delegate.
Raiders can take over regions by endorsing a raider nation, and making it delegate so that it has complete control over the region. Defenders try to either stop raider nations from becoming delegate in the first place, or take the region back by making a native nation delegate again.
Military gameplay is one of the cornerstones of inter-regional politics. It can introduce you to the wide, wild world of NS Gameplay, which has characters and stories and rich history on an epic scale. It can also introduce you to our good friends and allies in other regions. Unlike roleplay wars, military gameplay isn’t just imaginary - our actions have a real effect on the NS world. It's also pretty fun in the real world! A good tag run or chase can fill you with adrenaline. Restoring a region to native control can be extremely satisfying. Pulling off a successful operation with your companions doesn't just give you that sweet feeling of a hard-won victory, but is a great foundation for friendships. It's also a great foundation for an interregional political career, as military expertise gets your name known in the wider world of the game. You could be feared, hated, or loved throughout gameplay...
Why join the SPSF?
The SPSF is one of the most active GCR militaries in the game. We are a defender military - meaning we protect vulnerable regions from being taken over and destroyed by foreign forces. We have some of the most knowledgeable military gameplayers in the whole game working with us. And you can gain that knowledge too! The SPSF offers some of the highest-level training in the game - all you have to do is provide interest, willingness to learn, and passion, and you'll quickly be climbing the ranks to the top.
By joining the SPSF, you are also helping out the South Pacific. If the South Pacific is ever in danger, the SPSF will be the cornerstone of its defence. While our smaller ops might seem like they are just for fun, or just to fulfil foreign policy objective, we are also building up the skills that the SPSF needs for its core objective, which is to defend the Coalition. So by joining the SPSF, you may become a South Pacifican hero some day!
How can I join the SPSF?
The SPSF has two sections: the Tsunami Force and the Tidal Force.
Updates occur at 12 AM and 12 PM in Eastern Standard Time, or 5 AM and 5 PM in Universal Standard Time. These last about an hour, and this is when we conduct time-sensitive operations. You will need a Discord account and a forum account. If you can be online at update sometimes, even as little as once a week, you can sign up on the forums for the SPSF Tsunami Force.
If you can’t make those times, or just don’t want to, then the Tidal Force is for you! The Tidal Force conducts simpler and less time-sensitive (but still valuable!) missions. You don’t need a forum or Discord account for this, but of course you are always welcome to join. Check out this dispatch for more instructions: page=dispatch/id=1190718
Have any questions? Our Minister of Defense Witchcraft and Sorcery (WynkenBlynken#1150) and General Roavin (Roavin#5410) will be happy to help!
The South Pacific
The Tastiest Parts of Beepee (elected )
The People's Republic of Varayusha
The PS2 Puppet of Xynlandia
The Valkyrian Republic of Qvait
The Dracocracy of Theorin
The Incorporated Entity of Harmonious Paperclips
The Kingdom of Outer Utonixick Gollinican
The Technocracy of The Clockwork Republic
The PS2 Puppet of Thalasse
The PS2 Puppet of Copercia
The Voodoo People's Republic of Bruuma
The Confederacy of The Earth Kingdom Dynasty arrived from The West Pacific.
The Sultanate of Nuku alofi was founded.
The Armed Republic of The Militarian Islands departed this region for The manatee regions.
The Republic of MexicoSimba was founded.
The People's Republic of Kordeltopia departed this region for The Communist Bloc.
The Empire of Kingdom of Fenris departed this region for Trade Confederation.
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The Armed Republic of The American Anarchist Empire
The Holy Empire of Ipugao
Max Barry and was released on the 13th of November, 2002 as a means of promoting a novel Jennifer Government. The game has currently 223,380 active nations in 23,734 different regions.[2]
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The Community of Cladonia
The King of the Ferns of Doge Land
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