by Max Barry

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Dispatch → Meta → Reference

by Khazar lechia. . 312 reads.

Factbook, Account or Regional Message Board Post?

This is a guide, or an instruction on the categories around Nation States for all the users that like Nation States based role-play, especially in-depth. After reading this you'll be ready to write down a dispatch or post on the RMB!

  • Factbook - Think of them as an official international article about your nation using most objective data possible. You can think of it as a Wikipedia page type of thing.

    • Overview - It is rather sparse information about your nation. Preferably keep it short. It is usually clicked by the people that want quick information on your nation without much reading. It is an invitation to read the rest of your factbooks and it can have links to your most interesting Accounts.

    • History - Every important event that happened in the past and your overall timeline should be written in a factbook in this category.

    • Geography - Everything about your country's forests, mountains, cities and maps should go here.

    • Culture - This is where you should keep articles about your national language, ethnicity, folklore and such.

    • Politics - This category is for all the stories about your votes, important political campaigns that have impact on your people and all current politics that is not legislation.

    • Legislation - From the constitution to the most ridiculous laws of your nation state.

    • Religion - Here you can post articles about religion of your citizens including all religion that does not exist in the real world.

    • Military - Most agree that you should put military operations here as well as a description of your army and its equipment, as well as possible laws regarding them.

    • Economy - All the things regarding money that are not taxes, because that would be legislation. You can also write down your most influential companies here, or worker unions.

    • International - From international foundations similar to the red cross, all the way to military alliances and federations, but only if all other nations included already agreed on being part of it, otherwise post on the Regional Message Board (RMB) or send them a Telegram.

    • Trivia - Useless information that you find interesting about your nation.

    • Miscellenious - That's just a very fancy way of calling it "other".

  • Account - It's a non-interactive story from the reality of your nation. If no other nation can have any say on the matter, then it's best to put it in an Account and only share a link to it in the RMB.

    • Military - Stories about your soldiers and such.

    • Trade - All stories about international and national transactions.

    • Sport - Stories about sporting events, fan fights and such.

    • Drama - Personal stories of regular civilians that happen to shake the nation and make "drama".

    • Diplomacy - All stories about things that happened in embassies and dignitaries from different nations that visited your country, or your people visiting other countries.

    • Science - Stories about your scientists and their discoveries.

    • Culture - Those may vary from descriptions of operas, tv shows to cultural festivals.

    • Other - Any story that is interesting, happening in your nation, but does not fit in any category.

  • Regional Message Board - RMB is for things that need discussion with other nations from the region and at the same time need publicity, with the possibility of other region members joining into the discussion.

    • You should learn how to use NSCodes in order to write quality Factbooks, Accounts and Regional Message Board Posts! Here's a link to an existing guide to all of it:

      The Complete List of NSCodes

      by The Hive Mind of Testlandia

      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.

      Bold, Italic, Underline
      Valid: Everywhere
      Tags: b, i, u

      I [b]really[/b] like text that [i]makes a point[/i], you [u]know[/u]?
      I really like text that makes a point, you know?

      Strikeout, Subscript, Superscript
      Valid: Everywhere
      Tags: strike, sub, sup

      I [strike]like[/strike] [sub]love[/sub] love [sup]love[/sup] this region!
      I like love love love this region!

      Nation
      Valid: Everywhere
      Tag: nation
      Shortcut: @
      Options: long, noflag, noname

      I am [nation]Testlandia[/nation]. Or, to use my full name, [nation=long]Testlandia[/nation]. If you prefer to omit flags, you can call me [nation=noflag]Testlandia[/nation] or [nation=long+noflag]Testlandia[/nation]. In dispatches (only), I can be a mere flag: [nation=noname]Testlandia[/nation]
      I am Testlandia. Or, to use my full name, The Hive Mind of Testlandia. If you prefer to omit flags, you can call me Testlandia or The Hive Mind of Testlandia. In dispatches (only), I can be a mere flag: Testlandia

      (Tip: When writing a post or dispatch, hit "@" and begin typing a nation name for an auto-completing shortcut.)

      Region
      Valid: Everywhere
      Tag: region
      Shortcut: @

      [region]The Pacific[/region] was the very first region in the world.
      The Pacific was the very first region in the world.

      (Tip: When writing a post or dispatch, hit "@" and begin typing a region name for an auto-completing shortcut.)

      World Assembly Proposal
      Valid: Everywhere
      Tag: proposal
      Option: proposal ID

      Please support [proposal=separatist_peoples_1416233457]my proposal[/proposal]!
      Please support my proposal!

      World Assembly Resolution
      Valid: Everywhere
      Tag: resolution
      Option: council ID (GA, SC, or UN)#resolution ID

      The foundation of modern WA legislation is [resolution=GA#2]the Rights and Duties law[/resolution].
      The foundation of modern WA legislation is the Rights and Duties law.

      Spoiler
      Valid: Everywhere
      Tag: spoiler
      Options: text to display on button

      [spoiler]Surprise![/spoiler]
      Surprise!

      [spoiler=Try this one, too!]Boo!![/spoiler]
      Boo!!

      Link
      Valid for nationstates.net links: Everywhere
      Valid for other sites: Dispatches, WFEs
      Tag: url
      Options: URL

      Did you know the guy who wrote NationStates is [url=http://maxbarry.com]Max Barry[/url]?
      Did you know the guy who wrote NationStates is LinkMax Barry?

      A lot of people live in [url=http://forum.nationstates.net/]the forums[/url]!
      A lot of people live in the forums!

      You can actually omit the [url] tag for full URLs, like this: http://www.nationstates.net/page=faq
      You can actually omit the [url] tag for full URLs, like this: page=faq.

      But it's usually most helpful to provide descriptive text, so people know [url=http://www.nationstates.net/page=faq]this link leads to the FAQ[/url].
      But it's usually most helpful to provide descriptive text, so people know this link leads to the FAQ.

      List
      Valid: Everywhere
      Tags: list, *
      Options: 1, a, i, A, I

      [list][*]One
[*]Two
[*]Three[/list]

      • One

      • Two

      • Three

      [list=1][*]A more complicated list, which contains a nested list:
[list=i][*]"1" is 1, 2, 3...
[*]"i" is i, ii, iii...
[*]"a" is a, b, c...[/list]
[*]And the above can be capitalized, for A, B, C... and I, II, III...[/list]

      1. A more complicated list, which contains a nested list:

        1. "1" is 1, 2, 3...

        2. "i" is i, ii, iii...

        3. "a" is a, b, c...

      2. And the above can be capitalized, for A, B, C... and I, II, III...

      Unformatted text
      Valid: Everywhere
      Tag: pre

      [pre]You bold like [b]this[/b]![/pre]

      You bold like [b]this[/b]!

      Size
      Valid: Dispatches
      Tag: size

      Sometimes you want [size=150]big text[/size] but other times only [size=90]small text[/size] will do.
      Sometimes you want big text, but other times only small text will do.

      Color
      Valid: Dispatches, WFEs
      Tag: color
      Alternative name: colour
      Options: name or hexidecimal code of color

      I [color=red]love[/color] a little [colour=#FF9900]color[/colour].
      I love a little color.

      Quote
      Valid: RMBs
      Tag: quote
      Options: name of author;post ID

      [quote=testlandia;4970610]It's an outrage![/quote]
      Testlandia wrote:It's an outrage!

      Background color
      Valid: Dispatches
      Tags: background, background-block
      Options: name or hexidecimal code of color

      Backgrounds can be applied to [background=yellow]highlight a few words[/background].
      Backgrounds can be applied to highlight a few words.

      [background-block=yellow]Backgrounds can also be applied at the paragraph level, which is especially noticeable...

...when it flows over multiple lines.[/background-block]
      Backgrounds can also be applied at the paragraph level, which is especially noticeable...

      ...when it flows over multiple lines.


      Font
      Valid: Dispatches
      Tag: font
      Options: name of font(s), in order of preference

      [font=Courier]What a beautiful font![/font]
      What a beautiful font!

      [font=Times New Roman, Arial, sans]What a beautiful font![/font]
      What a beautiful font!

      Alignment
      Valid: Dispatches
      Tag: align
      Alternative names: center, centre
      Options: left, right, center, justify

      [align=center]Centered text.[/align]
      Centered text.

      [align=right]Right-justified text.[/align]
      Right-justified text.

      [centre]This is also centred, especially if you're British.[/centre]
      This is also centred, especially if you're British.

      Image
      Valid: Dispatches
      Tag: img
      Options: view (standout, shadow, border)

      [img]http://www.nationstates.net/images/foot_jg.png[/img]

      You can also set some visual options:

      [img view="shadow"]https://www.nationstates.net/images/flags/Switzerland.png[/img]

      [img view="standout"]https://www.nationstates.net/images/flags/Switzerland.png[/img]

      [img view="standout border shadow"]https://www.nationstates.net/images/flags/Switzerland.png[/img]

      Float
      Valid: Dispatches
      Tag: float
      Options: left, right

      [float=right][img]http://www.nationstates.net/images/foot_jg.png[/img][/float]
[float=left][img]http://www.nationstates.net/images/foot_jg.png[/img][/float]
Images float on either side of this text.

      Images float on either side of this text.

      Box
      Valid: Dispatches
      Tag: box

      [box]A pretty box.[/box]
      (You're looking at it. Sadly, boxes cannot contain other boxes.)

      Sidebar
      Valid: Dispatches
      Tag: sidebar

      [sidebar]Sidebars are very similar to box + float-right, but don't stretch across the whole screen (except on mobile devices).[/sidebar]
      Sidebars are very similar to box + float-right, but don't stretch across the whole screen (except on mobile devices).

      Indent
      Valid: Dispatches
      Tag: tab
      Option: number of pixels to indent

      [tab=100]Some indented text[/tab].
      Some indented text.

      Anchor
      Valid: Dispatches
      Tag: anchor
      Option: name of anchor (no spaces or punctuation!)

      [anchor=JUMPHERE][/anchor]Useful for tables of contents.
Jump to [url=#JUMPHERE]my anchor[/url].
      Useful for tables of contents.
      Jump to my anchor.

      Table
      Valid: Dispatches
      Tags: table, tr (table row), td (table cell)
      Options: plain

      [table][tr][td]A table's first row looks different[/td][td]Next cell[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Second row[/td][td]Next cell[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Third row[/td][td]Next cell[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Fourth row, which goes on at some length about nothing. It also has a line break in it. Here it comes. Ready? Okay!! Here it is!!
See?[/td][td]Next cell[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Hovering over a row highlights it[/td][td]Not bad, eh?[/td][/tr]
[/table]

      A table's first row looks different

      Next cell

      Second row

      Next cell

      Third row

      Next cell

      Fourth row, which goes on at some length about nothing. It also has a line break in it. Here it comes. Ready? Okay!! Here it is!!

      See?

      Next cell

      Hovering over a row highlights it

      Not bad, eh?

      [float=right][table=plain]
[tr][td]Table type:[/td][td]Plain[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Decoration:[/td][td]None[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Excitement level:[/td][td]Low[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Usefulness for formatting:[/td][td]High[/td][/tr]
[/table][/float]

      Table type:

      Plain

      Decoration:

      None

      Excitement level:

      Low

      Usefulness for formatting:

      High

      Read dispatch

Khazar lechia

Edited:

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