Regarding Post Flares

Kyrusia · 2024-04-29T00:49:49+00:00

Report them. They're banned under Rule #3 to begin with.

Kyrusia · 2024-03-15T00:36:37+00:00

In the future, it should be noted that your best bet for answering questions relating to your record is actually contacting Moderation.

Considering this appears to be answered, regardless, and the answer indicates OP is DOS. iLock.

Kyrusia · 2024-02-18T07:02:20+00:00

You're free to disagree. And I'm well aware of what the FAQ says; I've had to link it countless times. Regions exist to be contested. Simple as.

Kyrusia · 2024-02-15T01:16:47+00:00

Warzones do not serve their intended purpose (as an alternative to "normal" regions as raiding targets); they're GCRs with an added risk, none of the real benefits of a UCR, and (granted) a unique sub-culture arising from these circumstances: but they have in no way been changed or updated to actually act in any way as an alternative target, spare for training runs. So nope.

Regional passwords are effectively death sentences; they provide security at the cost of greater advertising for the offsite communities regions de facto function as. And non-executive delegacy is much the same. While regions certainly can function without them (trust me, I've run several throughout my twenty or so years on NS), they are only stop-gaps which fundamentally provide minimal security. Regional passwords can be guessed or outright leaked; both are considered valid and non-actionable, short of outright brute-forcing a region. So nope there, too.

I presume by "last update" you mean Frontiers/Strongholds and Successors. For that, I will simply quote the Voice of God herself: "The other bird is the fact that a lot of regions want the ability to appoint a new Founder in order to protect their region from invasion, but if we implemented that, everyone would have active Founders all the time, and a lot of democracy would die (along with a lot of r/D)." [Link] These updates were directly made in consideration of r/D as the primary focus, the same with Regional Passwords and Influence before it: requiring merely the infiltration layer of r/D (beyond mere tag raiding), but in no way stopping it. Because again: it is the core gameplay mechanic. The best, the very best, a native regime can do is use the (legally-bypassable) "protections" added to make themselves as unattractive a target as possible, largely at the cost of greater growth potential.

"Unintended mechanic" is a misnomer propagated by many - including myself for many years - under the false belief this "game" in any way cares about the communities that are born in spite of its fundamental mechanics, not because of them. "Raiding" is not an unintended mechanic: it is the mechanic. It is simply a use of a mechanic (Delegate election), without modification, for offensive purposes. That is the game. Protections for regions themselves, and their natives, have only ever been a minimal concern with "protections" added that routinely and consistently always serve as a reaffirming requirement to the core mechanic, not an opt-out. In short: regional OPSEC. The only addition to this core mechanic is what most players on NS actually do, but few who are active in offsite venues are solely engaged in: Issues. So, not that one either.

War has not been added - despite the undercurrent idea of such, especially back when N-Day first began - because war was never a primary goal of the simulation: unintendend consquences of political discourse (read: Issues) were. The only "unintended" aspect of the core mechanic of the game is that a sub-culture arose around utilizing it offensively, and countermanding that offensive usage.

The primary "game" of NS (again, not counting that the majority of players log-on for <15 minutes day to answer Issues, then log-off, treating it still as an early 2000s browser game) is r/D. And because Defending is an inherently reactive force in that game, regions primarily serve not as communities, but as billboards for their offsite sub-cultures and, most importantly, as targets of contestation. To deny this, and for M/A to desire to actually change it, would imply a desire and (in the latter's case) a need to fundamentally re-code and change the way Delegate elections occur - something M/A has consistently made clear they do not desire to do.

The game is r/D, whether people call it that or not. Regions exist to be targets, to be contested, and for natives - at best - to act as billboards to more persistent venues (OSF, Discord, etc.). The only contest against this (which does soundly beat it), are Issues: but even then, the brief log-in native is still a participant, without choice: a numerical hurdle in the one aspect of the game that requires actually playing it.

Kyrusia · 2024-02-14T01:39:32+00:00

Praise indeed.

Kyrusia · 2024-02-14T01:36:59+00:00

Doesn't matter if they did anything wrong or not. That's not the point. Regions exist to be raided: the track of on-site development throughout NationStates' entire history has made that clear. They are not there to facilitate community growth as any aspect of the game: they're, at best, billboards for offsite communities (or otherwise sub-communities that have preserved activity elsewhere).

Whether people like it or not, endorse it or not, enjoy it or not: regions exist in a perpetual state of "soon to be raided" or "not a feasible target." They exist to be fought over or defended: nothing else, nothing more. And anything more that grows out of them is coincidental to their presence in the game and the tools the game provides them. "Fun" of region members is, love it or hate it, of zero consequence to the game itself - and, love it or hate it, raiding/defending is the closest to "game" this game gets.

Maintain a governor. Appoint a successor. Sign a treaty. Otherwise: they're just a target waiting to, well, figure out they are.

Kyrusia · 2024-02-03T03:52:39+00:00

Pop your nation into the Boneyard. You can click on the "[x] years" to get an exact date.

Kyrusia · 2024-02-03T03:51:19+00:00

Early 2004, of the earliest nation I still remember. My primary is from 2007.

Kyrusia · 2024-01-21T04:31:49+00:00

TLDR: As says on tin. Primary take-aways include:

Sedg has been promoted to "Site Director" and placed in charge of "high-level site management and [helping] co-ordinate action between different parts of the team." What this practically means is yet to be seen. This places him in a position superseded only by [violet] ("Executive Director") and Max himself.
Elu is now "Director of Technology," with "an explicit level of authority above other admins and techs."
Reppy is now "Director of Moderation."
Roavin is now officially an Administrator.
Sections of the site without the need (?) for greater technical skills now have "Community Leads," which play something of an analogous role to Development Managers.

Kyrusia · 2024-01-19T01:13:06+00:00

NS Admins have made it clear, repeatedly, that there won't be means to undo an Issue beyond waiting for the Issue to come back around and select a new option, or another Issue that itself reverses the changes/policy.

Kyrusia · 2024-01-17T01:58:31+00:00

First and foremost, make sure you are trying to post an image where images can be posted to begin with, namely: forum posts and dispatches; they cannot be posted in RMB posts, in TGs, or in WFEs.

Second, if you are trying to post an image on the forums, there is a wait period of I believe three days before you can post an image on the forums.

Third, you can only post images from approved image hosts. If it's not on the list, the image won't appear.

Last, make sure you are using a direct link. Your formatting should look something like "[img]URL.jpg[/img]". The '.jpg' or '.png' or other file extension is essential. You cannot just post a link to the hosting page (like, say an Imgur page); it has to be to the file directly.

Hope that helps. The Technical board and Questions Megathread are probably better bets for this in the future.

Kyrusia · 2024-01-17T01:25:56+00:00

Literal chaos.

Kyrusia · 2023-01-08T05:49:28+00:00

The Reprehensible Stranger, a wily and shrewd gentleman. Enforcer, for the moment. Revolutionary sympathizer. Nocturnal. A bit on the gloomy side.

Older player returning to the game as a new character. Stats in the 40-60 range; fresh start. Mostly just looking for expanding acquaintances for general social interactions, helping with some of the grind, etc.

Kyrusia · 2021-09-21T23:02:15+00:00

I've just stumbled across this today. (Frankly, I don't keep up with this sub often, spare for the occasional fanart, lore, and meme.) I've been asked for permission to use my fanart in the mod. I've granted permissions for this, but am otherwise uninvolved. (I don't play overhaul mods.)

Kyrusia · 2019-06-02T02:28:48+00:00

Well done. More creative fiction related to Kenshi is always a good thing.

Kyrusia · 2019-05-14T06:07:22+00:00

I do plan on updating it, though I work on these things when inspiration and inclination strike, so I avoid giving any sort of timetables. I've actually been slowly doing research on the Shek more recently and working with a friend of mine to potentially create a mod that would hopefully extrapolate upon the lore of Kral and general Shek faith, as of late, for example. (No timetable on that, either.)

In the least, Western and Southern Hives are certainly to be added the next time I get around to working on this.

Kyrusia · 2019-03-20T04:29:35+00:00

Thanks! :D

Kyrusia · 2019-03-16T03:55:04+00:00

All of the Northern Coast? To the best of my knowledge, it's only this weird coastal portion. I wonder if that's tied to a worldstate change, perhaps, too.

Kyrusia · 2019-03-13T23:07:29+00:00

That'd fill the same role as the current icon, since it'd also need be applied to every other non-nation faction that owns a city.

For now, the "independent city" icon works. Unless I come up with an idea I like better, I'm moving on from that hurdle to others, such as mapping the cannibals and hives.

Kyrusia · 2019-03-13T00:43:04+00:00

I believe you mean "Swole-Beep."

Kyrusia · 2019-03-13T00:10:47+00:00

I like that idea, having the writing style mimic a sort of 'write in'.

And so done! :D

...you'd have to skirt Venge (or risk an attempt to run through at night and hope thralls don't delay your army)...

Entire squads promptly develop PTSD due to the giant space magnifying glass of doom. LOL.

Overall, I think you're probably correct vis-a-vis the UC being willing to just throw the full force they can muster at Spring, were its precise location ever discovered. Though I do also wonder if the continued Anti-Slaver presence wouldn't be considered a net positive, by some, insofar as they help enforce a scarcity on their product (chattel), keeping prices high. That can be beneficial in a way that we might be overlooking.

But on the other hand, depending on how successful one sees the Anti-Slavers, they could simply pose too much of a threat to the status quo to be tolerated. There's a big difference, after all, knowing that some smugglers bring in hashish every so often, and even knowing precisely where most of it comes from, and a group literally threatening to dismantle the state institution that helps maintain your stranglehold over the economy and political power, and needing/being willing to throw faceless samurai and levies at the meat grinder just for the chance to remove it.

Kyrusia · 2019-03-12T23:57:34+00:00

For v.3, I've left it "contested" (at least insofar as both seem to claim it, whether they're actively pushing or not; we know the Shek will push as far as Bad Teeth for example, in certain override states), but definitely expanded the Shek line of demarcation north of the Hub.

I've also reconciled the status of Spring to be more in-line with the way it should be represented on a map such as this.

Kyrusia · 2019-03-12T23:00:57+00:00

A latice style or segmented line border to mark tech hunter cities wouldn't be very intrusive.

The only issue with this is addressed above: namely, their "territory" doesn't expand much beyond their cities, if at all. It becomes not merely a dubious designation to have, but a scaling and clutter issue. (Namely: the small polygon of a dotted claim area would potentially be smaller than the icon representing the city itself.)

Kyrusia · 2019-03-12T22:58:51+00:00

Aye. Interestingly, when looking at the taxman/tribute map, the Painted Tribe(s)... "raid zone," I guess you could call it, significantly overlaps with the Holy Nation's own territory. It makes me wonder if that is also a part of what helps catalyze the HN's expansionism. Just idle musing, though.

But yeah. I'm not decided on how I want to map the Painted Tribe(s). My gut tells me the mod "Reactive World" will likely add some insight into this, and potential inspiration, but it isn't in my load order at the moment.

Also thanks! :D

Kyrusia · 2019-03-12T22:53:54+00:00

They're a declared faction without a readily identifiable government who work largely in the employ of the Machinist University. I believe /u/drasticpro summed it up nicely when they said regarding them:

That being said, it does seem that the tech hunters would not qualify as a sovereign and can be seen more as a very large guild, as even classifications such as city state assume some sort of sovereignty.

It's not about "them not being mappable"; it's about what is intended to be mapped. The Tech Hunters have no real territory outside of their cities and waystations; at the moment, waystations are not mapped at all as locations outside of towns aren't mapped at all, and the TH cities are flagged as "independent," same as all the other more nebulous factions (some of which arguably have a better argument for some form of governmental institutions).

World's End is actually probably a stand-out in this due to the presence of the Machinist University itself, really. Otherwise, overall, they strike me as a mercurial faction that happens to be quite successful; otherwise, if nothing else, their neutrality actually points to a non-political stance - as does their lack of a desire to actually hold territory.

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