This is going to be a short post as I have to leave very soon, but I will be back around the 29th of September. I'm going to visit my family for a few days and then I've got urgent things to deal with straight from Wednesday to Sunday so it's going to be a difficult week.
Got some good news, I have written an issue for NationStates 2 and shown it to the NS2 development team who loved it and it'll be put into the game sometime around tomorrow. The CEO of OMAC Industries asked if I could write them on a regular weekly basis. I haven't said yes or no to this yet, but if I do then you can expect to see many more NS2 issues going into NationStates 2 regularly. It does mean that I'll have very little time to do NS1 issues, but don't worry I'll do my best to do both at once! It's just going to take me longer to do NationStates 1 issues.
Finger crossed the week goes well! See you in a week.
21 September 2008
08 September 2008
My First Impressions Of The NationStates 2 Beta
SPOILER WARNING: I'll be going into some detail about things I've encountered in NationStates 2 like issues and such. If you don't want to know about it, you may not want to read any further. This isn't a review for NationStates 2 as such, more of a series of musings.
NationStates 2 has been released in beta form for about two weeks now, so I'm going to have a brief look at the various aspects of this game and give my general opinion on what's good, what's bad, what could be improved, etc.
OK, let's make our way down the sidebar. First up are issues:
Issues
NationStates 2 issues are quite, quite different from NS1 issues:
NS1 issues are heavy on satire and looking at how different people have different opinions on what should be done on a wide range of topical issues.
NS2 issues are much more slanted to the wacky side of issues than anything else... the other day I had an issue about a crimewave of attacks by ninjas which, amusing as the idea is, is difficult to take seriously. You can't really impose your own morals on a premise so silly.
I've got about seven issues in my pile (there's no 'dismiss all' button. Maybe there will be in the future, I rather hope so.) so let's take a look at one of them:
Before I talk about the contents, I have a few small remarks to make about presentation: the options don't have 1., 2., and 3. before them and there's not much to separate the options from the issue description but an [Accept] button. It doesn't look as neat and clear as NS1 issues do when it should look better.
Few things to note: my nation in NS2 is called Meticulous Care and its newspaper is The Hebdomadal Gabfest.
This particular issue isn't so bad, you've got a for, an against, and a compromise (which comes as the first option - an unusual place to put it. Ideally you want to make the most direct solutions the first ones read an- never mind, I'll be here forever), but I think the issue description could have been done differently.
This description seems a tad clumsy to me. "Is marijuana possession a criminal offense?" Well, for that particular nation the question's been answered earlier in the same sentence where it points out that possessors have been fined and jailed. The question should have been "Should marijuana possession be a criminal offense?" but even then, there's no good explanation why it's even being brought up. Why is the government interviewing the newspaper's authorities? It makes no sense. If I were to write this description, it would have been something like this:
There, it's clear as to the issue and it even includes the national newspaper (which is used profusely in NS2 issues for some reason). It has the added bonus of being ambiguous as to whether recreational drug use is legal or not. This means that you can take any stance on it and still get the issue later if you change your mind. If it's affirmed that it's already illegal, then countries where marijuana use is legal won't be able to get it.
While the NS2 issues aren't bad, they're still not very good and I think they could definitely be improved.
National Summary
Here's my national summary for Meticulous Care:
All in all, it's not bad! One problem though is that because NS2 has two sidebars at both sides of the screen, all the text is squashed into mammoth paragraphs. It's a little off-putting. One obvious boon though is that you can add your own paragraphs to the nation's description (mine's the one that begins 'Meticulous Care was built on...') which is really liberating, and the roleplayers are going to love it. I also like that other notable events in your nation's history are inserted automatically (see the last two lines in the description). Looking at the second paragraph, I notice they put a hyphen into antibiotics. Whoops. There're a few other typos, but I'm not here to nit-pick. Moving on.
Dossier
The dossier is very good, you can order nations by name, last login, population, etc. which I approve of. No complaints here, though it would be nice if it had the little header explaining what the dossier is for, like in NS1 for the benefit of new players. I have noticed that a lot of the features don't have much explanation with them except through the blue question mark buttons.
Telegrams
This feature needs more work. At the moment there is no option for deleting telegrams (single or multiple), or blocking senders. In NationStates 1, you're presented with the option to send telegrams the moment you view another nation. In NationStates 2, you have to click 'Send [whomever] a telegram' which is tucked away in the sidebar. I think it's a shame that in a political simulator (and politics is, at its most fundamental, persuading through communications) that this essential feature isn't more prominent.
Trade
I like trade in NationStates 2 very much. Here's the trade FAQ for those wanting to follow what I'm about to say.
The trade page is broken up into sections so here's a rundown:
Trade news
The latest information about what trade relations you've made. Tellaria just set me to partner.
Trade relations
This shows you what trade relations you have with other nations. I'm neutral with everyone at the moment so there's nothing here, but you can rearrange nations in this list by name, population, etc.
Your GDP vs. Your Set Trade Relations
This shows you your nation's Gross Domestic Product in comparison with nations you've got trade relations with.
Others' Trade Status to you
This shows a list of other nations' trade status to your own nation.
Your GDP vs. Nations with Trade Relations Set to You
This show's your nation's GDP in relation to nations who have trade relations to you.
Trades
This tells you what the latest trades your nation made with a little clipboard symbol bearing either a plus or a minus at the side to show whether you made a surplus or a deficit with the trade. Mine are mostly minuses though my cement industry appears to be flourishing. Go cement!
There's also a number of clipboards showing how many goods you yourself consumed before trading. Mine includes this:
'You consumed 3.00 million units of your own dancing monkeys to satisfy food.'
I'm not sure what to think of that.
Total Goods Produced Yesterday
A list of the goods produced and a line graph indicating how much of each has been made over time.
Surplus After Trade
This shows which industries have a surplus after trade and how much.
And that's it for trade. There's a lot of information there but it's presented in a manner which is, quite frankly, only half-comprehensible.
Most of the information is parlayed through line graphs with no explanation as to what the numbers on the axes represent. Only so many lines are visible and no explanation is given to why these lines are shown and others are not. Another problem is that often the lines for different things are the same colour so there's no way to tell which is which without hovering over the nametag at the bottom. The numbers also use commas instead of decimal points ($13,85 instead of $13.85 for instance) which makes no sense to me at all.
Trade in NS2 is done top-level management style with no micromanagement which I approve of. It sets NS2 apart from other trade simulators which, unless you're pretty canny, will burn you alive in Statistics Hell. So I like trade, but it needs better presentation.
Economy
Again, this section is split into sections, so I'll guide us through:
Government Spending by Branch
Wow! A pie chart! I can understand that, well enough, though it's still got the whole commas-instead-of-decimal-points thing. This section shows what percentage of your budget is going towards different departments. I like this a lot, it means I can keep track of where my government's funding is being wasted most. Which is... healthcare and welfare right now.
Yesterday's Cash Flow
This shows how much money is being put into trades, if I'm right.
All of it, by the looks of things.
Total Needs Yesterday
Shows how much demand there is within my nation for verious amenities (food, clothing, energy, etc.).
Unsatisfied Needs Yesterday
Shows how much unsatisfied demand for various amenities there is in my nation. Right now there's a lot.
Yesterday's Average Market Price for Goods
This shows how much goods are going for by value of your nation's currency (which will always be represented by the dollar sign [$]). A brief glance at the list indicates that automobiles are the most valuable asset on the world market currently, whilst we're all practically drowning in ballistics (or at least, that no-one wants them). The second worst is... cement! NOOOOOO-
Anyway. Looking at these last sections, I can't help but think that they're more useful to decisions you're making when dealing with trade. Do you really want to have to swap between both pages while doing that? It makes more sense to me to put them all together. Also, it'd be helpful if you could rearrange the goods by value, name, etc. for easy reference.
Alliances
Ah, alliances. Alliances is where NS2 really comes to the fore as the possibilities here are endless. This is where the core gameplay exists.
Alliances are like NS1 regions: nations come together, bound by a common interest usually, and build up an organisation with laws and diplomatic relations aimed at furthering its interest. It'll be interesting to see which alliances become the strongest.
Alliances can be of two types: alliances and continents. Nations on the same continent are brought together simply by geographical closeness.
Continents are like NS1 regions. When you create your nation, it gets plonked in a random continent on a random world (mine is World 3). Continents have a description, forum, an elected moderator (like a delegate in NS1) and that's about it.
The continent I'm on is called Blanchfield (Lord knows why) and with some prompting I've encouraged other Blanchfield nations to get to know each other so we can create a proper alliance (which we have done now). The alliance is just getting on its feet, but let's take a look.
The alliance is called The Dyriiad Federation as its HQ is based in the capital of the alliance's founder, Theyst.
Alliances are highly customisable, much more so than continents, which is really wonderful. So let's take a look at what makes an alliance:
Name
Obviously.
Description
Here you can write up what your alliance is all about. Blanchfield simply has 'Blanchfield is a continent of contrast.' for now (oldtime NSers should get the reference).
Forum
Individual alliances all have their own in-game forums which is really great, it's something that many have been hoping for in NS2. They're simplistic, but good enough for most I should think.
Alliance News
Shows the latest happenings in the alliance (members joining, rank changes, etc.)
Alliance History
Lets you record anything about the alliance's history that you want.
Nominations
Some ranks (which I'll elaborate on later) are elected positions. You can nominate yourself, or endorse someone else's nomination here.
Alliance Laws
This is where those with the power can write up the rules for members to abide by, much like writing up WA proposals for the World Assembly in NS1 but less onerous. Laws are proposed, and then voted upon. If they get more FOR votes than AGAINST votes then they're passed and take pride of place in the list of enacted laws. This is a great way for alliances to acquire their own distinctive flavour.
Alliance Ranks
This shows what ranks members may have. The ranks are fully customisable (by whoever has a rank that lets them customise ranks anyway) so different ranks have different powers within the alliance from inviting new members to promoting/demoting members of lower ranks or editing the alliance's description.
In short, I like alliances, which is good because they're just about the most important feature of NationStates 2. I don't know if this has been addressed or not, but it would be good if there was a page that allowed you to read all enacted laws at the same time without having to click on each one and read them separately. My one major gripe though is that alliances don't have messageboards like NS1. The forums are all well and good, but they're not as immediate as messageboards are. To put it simply, forums are like meetings and messageboards are like conversations. They're more casual and therefore more accessible. I think messageboards would be a good complement to alliance forums.
Espionage
Meticulous Care is not an ambassador nation, so I don't know much about how espionage works in the NationStates 2 beta.
Browse Nations
A list of all nations in your world. You can rearrange the list according to name, population, GDP, etc. but there is no search function which is quite annoying. I'm sure that will be sorted at some point though.
Diplomacy
This page shows what diplomatic relations you have with other nations, what diplomatic relations other nations have with you, and the latest changes in diplomatic relations.
But what is diplomacy in NS2? It's basically a measurement of how friendly nations are with each other. You can be White (ally), Green (peaceful), Blue (neutral), Yellow (alert), Orange (hostile). At some point there will also be Red and Black which will be there for NS2's war function (which is yet to come). Diplomatic Statuses besides White, Red, and Black are purely there for public show, or, diplomacy. Neat, huh?
I like the diplomacy in NS2, it's very accessible.
And that's it for the sidebar. I'll look at two more things before I give my Grand Conclusion *fanfare*
Nation creation
I liked the nation creation system. It was like NS1's except better. More initial questions, and more things to customise: you can pick a national newspaper, a predominant terrain, and, at last!, a capital city. One thing that is puzzling is that you have to be an ambassador to have a custom flag. I don't know why you'd have to pay to do something in NS2 that you could do in NS1 for free. Shouldn't it be the other way round? But nevertheless, I do like the nation creation system.
I'd like to see you be able to create a name for your national leader and perhaps even supply a picture. That would be neat.
Presentation
NS2 is styled in a more complicated way than NS1 but it suits it. I really like the artwork by Karl Tiedemann. It's absolutely perfect for the game.
Grand Conclusion
I like NationStates 2 a lot, but there's definite room for improvement. Some features are very good but need more work (alliances for instance), and some features are sorely lacking (search functions). I'm sure NS2 will be great once it's out of the beta stage, but I do have some concerns about how playable some aspects of the game are going to be in the long run. I'm not sure what the point of the commendations and trophies are either. Surely they're just two words for the same thing?
I also think worlds should have more interesting names than World 1, World 2, etc. It's hard to grow a community around something with such an uninspiring moniker.
---
There we go, now some smaller news:
NationStates 2 released another 4000 beta keys, which means more players. Expect even more to be released soon!
There is a new NationStates 1 issue.
More first impressions of NationStates 2 from regulars of the NationStates 1 General forum.
AND OH MY GOD FORUM 7 IS BACK.
NationStates 2 has been released in beta form for about two weeks now, so I'm going to have a brief look at the various aspects of this game and give my general opinion on what's good, what's bad, what could be improved, etc.
OK, let's make our way down the sidebar. First up are issues:
Issues
NationStates 2 issues are quite, quite different from NS1 issues:
NS1 issues are heavy on satire and looking at how different people have different opinions on what should be done on a wide range of topical issues.
NS2 issues are much more slanted to the wacky side of issues than anything else... the other day I had an issue about a crimewave of attacks by ninjas which, amusing as the idea is, is difficult to take seriously. You can't really impose your own morals on a premise so silly.
I've got about seven issues in my pile (there's no 'dismiss all' button. Maybe there will be in the future, I rather hope so.) so let's take a look at one of them:
"Jailing people for pot, is like... bad."
The Hebdomadal Gabfest Editorial: As more and more marijuana users are fined and jailed, our editors ask, "Is marijuana possession a criminal offense?" We interview The Hebdomadal Gabfest's top authorities on the subject.
"Marijuana use is a disease, not a crime" asserts noted physyician Doctor Danny. "Decriminalize this 'pot' and increase the health budget to steady our people when they stumble.".
[Accept]
"Dude, marijuana isn't a disease, it's a path to enlightenment!" says noted Libertarian Alex Truberg. "Make it legal and take some of these cop pigs off the streets, man. What I do to my body is my... wait, what was I talking about?"
[Accept]
"We need to beef up our police force to deal with this growing crime spree. Marijuana is illegal for a reason." says Drug Elimination Agency Officer Irons. "It affects people's memories, and makes them paranoid. If we don't nip this in the bud, they could form some kind of druggy army and kill us all!"
[Accept]
[Dismiss The Issue]
Before I talk about the contents, I have a few small remarks to make about presentation: the options don't have 1., 2., and 3. before them and there's not much to separate the options from the issue description but an [Accept] button. It doesn't look as neat and clear as NS1 issues do when it should look better.
Few things to note: my nation in NS2 is called Meticulous Care and its newspaper is The Hebdomadal Gabfest.
This particular issue isn't so bad, you've got a for, an against, and a compromise (which comes as the first option - an unusual place to put it. Ideally you want to make the most direct solutions the first ones read an- never mind, I'll be here forever), but I think the issue description could have been done differently.
The Hebdomadal Gabfest Editorial: As more and more marijuana users are fined and jailed, our editors ask, "Is marijuana possession a criminal offense?" We interview The Hebdomadal Gabfest's top authorities on the subject.
This description seems a tad clumsy to me. "Is marijuana possession a criminal offense?" Well, for that particular nation the question's been answered earlier in the same sentence where it points out that possessors have been fined and jailed. The question should have been "Should marijuana possession be a criminal offense?" but even then, there's no good explanation why it's even being brought up. Why is the government interviewing the newspaper's authorities? It makes no sense. If I were to write this description, it would have been something like this:
The pro-marijuana organisation 'My Body, My Choice' has been at the centre of debates on recreational drug use after they accidentally set their clubhouse on fire during a 'conference'. The Hebdomadal Gabfest has used this to highlight their latest editorial on whether marijuana should be legal or not.
There, it's clear as to the issue and it even includes the national newspaper (which is used profusely in NS2 issues for some reason). It has the added bonus of being ambiguous as to whether recreational drug use is legal or not. This means that you can take any stance on it and still get the issue later if you change your mind. If it's affirmed that it's already illegal, then countries where marijuana use is legal won't be able to get it.
While the NS2 issues aren't bad, they're still not very good and I think they could definitely be improved.
National Summary
Here's my national summary for Meticulous Care:
The Allied States of Meticulous Care is a huge, moderately restrictive nation, remarkable for its harmony between citizens and politicians. Its population of 67.55 million citizens are highly moralistic and fiercely conservative, in the sense that they tend to believe most things should be outlawed. People who have good jobs and work quietly at them are lauded; others are viewed with suspicion. The average national tax rate is 28.00%.
A multitude of tap, swing, and hip-hop schools have added classes for the lesser primates. Air-freshener salesmen peddle their wares to fish-scented patrons. Doctors are known to prescribe nothing but anti-biotics. Drilling structures tower over the land. It's rumored that gangsters have been thanking cement manufacturers for their quality production of "shoes." Sports cars have been spotted peeling rubber on the roads.
Lack of food has made the Atclan starvation diet all the rage. Nudity has lost a lot of its appeal due to the abundance of flesh from the clothes shortage... or maybe it's just the frostbite. With such a dire shortage of medical supplies many mothers are delivering at funeral homes to save on transportation costs. The country has become famous for its well stocked silos of materials feeding industries all that they require. Housefires are up 240% as the black-outs have households returning to candle light. Highly skilled professionals are quitting their jobs and becoming fast-food drones as the transportation shortage makes commuting impossible. More and more elite officers are graduating from military training. The country is known for its new renaissance of entertainment art.
Meticulous Care's fearless leader resides in the nation's capital of Juniper City, making grand decisions typically with a pet slime beast curled-up on the carpet.
Meticulous Care was built upon the blood of bureaucrats, pen–pushers, and narrow–minded busybodies everywhere. Their skulls make up the great throne in the Palace of Dread in Juniper City. Blood–curdling screams are a constant reminder of the danger that lurks round every corner.
Please visit the gift shop!
Meticulous Care was founded on the 20th of August, 2008.
Meticulous Care became Moderator of Blanchfield on the 25th of August, 2008.
All in all, it's not bad! One problem though is that because NS2 has two sidebars at both sides of the screen, all the text is squashed into mammoth paragraphs. It's a little off-putting. One obvious boon though is that you can add your own paragraphs to the nation's description (mine's the one that begins 'Meticulous Care was built on...') which is really liberating, and the roleplayers are going to love it. I also like that other notable events in your nation's history are inserted automatically (see the last two lines in the description). Looking at the second paragraph, I notice they put a hyphen into antibiotics. Whoops. There're a few other typos, but I'm not here to nit-pick. Moving on.
Dossier
The dossier is very good, you can order nations by name, last login, population, etc. which I approve of. No complaints here, though it would be nice if it had the little header explaining what the dossier is for, like in NS1 for the benefit of new players. I have noticed that a lot of the features don't have much explanation with them except through the blue question mark buttons.
Telegrams
This feature needs more work. At the moment there is no option for deleting telegrams (single or multiple), or blocking senders. In NationStates 1, you're presented with the option to send telegrams the moment you view another nation. In NationStates 2, you have to click 'Send [whomever] a telegram' which is tucked away in the sidebar. I think it's a shame that in a political simulator (and politics is, at its most fundamental, persuading through communications) that this essential feature isn't more prominent.
Trade
I like trade in NationStates 2 very much. Here's the trade FAQ for those wanting to follow what I'm about to say.
The trade page is broken up into sections so here's a rundown:
Trade news
The latest information about what trade relations you've made. Tellaria just set me to partner.
Trade relations
This shows you what trade relations you have with other nations. I'm neutral with everyone at the moment so there's nothing here, but you can rearrange nations in this list by name, population, etc.
Your GDP vs. Your Set Trade Relations
This shows you your nation's Gross Domestic Product in comparison with nations you've got trade relations with.
Others' Trade Status to you
This shows a list of other nations' trade status to your own nation.
Your GDP vs. Nations with Trade Relations Set to You
This show's your nation's GDP in relation to nations who have trade relations to you.
Trades
This tells you what the latest trades your nation made with a little clipboard symbol bearing either a plus or a minus at the side to show whether you made a surplus or a deficit with the trade. Mine are mostly minuses though my cement industry appears to be flourishing. Go cement!
There's also a number of clipboards showing how many goods you yourself consumed before trading. Mine includes this:
'You consumed 3.00 million units of your own dancing monkeys to satisfy food.'
I'm not sure what to think of that.
Total Goods Produced Yesterday
A list of the goods produced and a line graph indicating how much of each has been made over time.
Surplus After Trade
This shows which industries have a surplus after trade and how much.
And that's it for trade. There's a lot of information there but it's presented in a manner which is, quite frankly, only half-comprehensible.
Most of the information is parlayed through line graphs with no explanation as to what the numbers on the axes represent. Only so many lines are visible and no explanation is given to why these lines are shown and others are not. Another problem is that often the lines for different things are the same colour so there's no way to tell which is which without hovering over the nametag at the bottom. The numbers also use commas instead of decimal points ($13,85 instead of $13.85 for instance) which makes no sense to me at all.
Trade in NS2 is done top-level management style with no micromanagement which I approve of. It sets NS2 apart from other trade simulators which, unless you're pretty canny, will burn you alive in Statistics Hell. So I like trade, but it needs better presentation.
Economy
Again, this section is split into sections, so I'll guide us through:
Government Spending by Branch
Wow! A pie chart! I can understand that, well enough, though it's still got the whole commas-instead-of-decimal-points thing. This section shows what percentage of your budget is going towards different departments. I like this a lot, it means I can keep track of where my government's funding is being wasted most. Which is... healthcare and welfare right now.
Yesterday's Cash Flow
This shows how much money is being put into trades, if I'm right.
Money available for trade: 45.49 million electronic walnuts
Money remaining after trades: 0.00 million electronic walnuts
All of it, by the looks of things.
Total Needs Yesterday
Shows how much demand there is within my nation for verious amenities (food, clothing, energy, etc.).
Unsatisfied Needs Yesterday
Shows how much unsatisfied demand for various amenities there is in my nation. Right now there's a lot.
Yesterday's Average Market Price for Goods
This shows how much goods are going for by value of your nation's currency (which will always be represented by the dollar sign [$]). A brief glance at the list indicates that automobiles are the most valuable asset on the world market currently, whilst we're all practically drowning in ballistics (or at least, that no-one wants them). The second worst is... cement! NOOOOOO-
Anyway. Looking at these last sections, I can't help but think that they're more useful to decisions you're making when dealing with trade. Do you really want to have to swap between both pages while doing that? It makes more sense to me to put them all together. Also, it'd be helpful if you could rearrange the goods by value, name, etc. for easy reference.
Alliances
Ah, alliances. Alliances is where NS2 really comes to the fore as the possibilities here are endless. This is where the core gameplay exists.
Alliances are like NS1 regions: nations come together, bound by a common interest usually, and build up an organisation with laws and diplomatic relations aimed at furthering its interest. It'll be interesting to see which alliances become the strongest.
Alliances can be of two types: alliances and continents. Nations on the same continent are brought together simply by geographical closeness.
Continents are like NS1 regions. When you create your nation, it gets plonked in a random continent on a random world (mine is World 3). Continents have a description, forum, an elected moderator (like a delegate in NS1) and that's about it.
The continent I'm on is called Blanchfield (Lord knows why) and with some prompting I've encouraged other Blanchfield nations to get to know each other so we can create a proper alliance (which we have done now). The alliance is just getting on its feet, but let's take a look.
The alliance is called The Dyriiad Federation as its HQ is based in the capital of the alliance's founder, Theyst.
Alliances are highly customisable, much more so than continents, which is really wonderful. So let's take a look at what makes an alliance:
Name
Obviously.
Description
Here you can write up what your alliance is all about. Blanchfield simply has 'Blanchfield is a continent of contrast.' for now (oldtime NSers should get the reference).
Forum
Individual alliances all have their own in-game forums which is really great, it's something that many have been hoping for in NS2. They're simplistic, but good enough for most I should think.
Alliance News
Shows the latest happenings in the alliance (members joining, rank changes, etc.)
Alliance History
Lets you record anything about the alliance's history that you want.
Nominations
Some ranks (which I'll elaborate on later) are elected positions. You can nominate yourself, or endorse someone else's nomination here.
Alliance Laws
This is where those with the power can write up the rules for members to abide by, much like writing up WA proposals for the World Assembly in NS1 but less onerous. Laws are proposed, and then voted upon. If they get more FOR votes than AGAINST votes then they're passed and take pride of place in the list of enacted laws. This is a great way for alliances to acquire their own distinctive flavour.
Alliance Ranks
This shows what ranks members may have. The ranks are fully customisable (by whoever has a rank that lets them customise ranks anyway) so different ranks have different powers within the alliance from inviting new members to promoting/demoting members of lower ranks or editing the alliance's description.
In short, I like alliances, which is good because they're just about the most important feature of NationStates 2. I don't know if this has been addressed or not, but it would be good if there was a page that allowed you to read all enacted laws at the same time without having to click on each one and read them separately. My one major gripe though is that alliances don't have messageboards like NS1. The forums are all well and good, but they're not as immediate as messageboards are. To put it simply, forums are like meetings and messageboards are like conversations. They're more casual and therefore more accessible. I think messageboards would be a good complement to alliance forums.
Espionage
Meticulous Care is not an ambassador nation, so I don't know much about how espionage works in the NationStates 2 beta.
Browse Nations
A list of all nations in your world. You can rearrange the list according to name, population, GDP, etc. but there is no search function which is quite annoying. I'm sure that will be sorted at some point though.
Diplomacy
This page shows what diplomatic relations you have with other nations, what diplomatic relations other nations have with you, and the latest changes in diplomatic relations.
But what is diplomacy in NS2? It's basically a measurement of how friendly nations are with each other. You can be White (ally), Green (peaceful), Blue (neutral), Yellow (alert), Orange (hostile). At some point there will also be Red and Black which will be there for NS2's war function (which is yet to come). Diplomatic Statuses besides White, Red, and Black are purely there for public show, or, diplomacy. Neat, huh?
I like the diplomacy in NS2, it's very accessible.
And that's it for the sidebar. I'll look at two more things before I give my Grand Conclusion *fanfare*
Nation creation
I liked the nation creation system. It was like NS1's except better. More initial questions, and more things to customise: you can pick a national newspaper, a predominant terrain, and, at last!, a capital city. One thing that is puzzling is that you have to be an ambassador to have a custom flag. I don't know why you'd have to pay to do something in NS2 that you could do in NS1 for free. Shouldn't it be the other way round? But nevertheless, I do like the nation creation system.
I'd like to see you be able to create a name for your national leader and perhaps even supply a picture. That would be neat.
Presentation
NS2 is styled in a more complicated way than NS1 but it suits it. I really like the artwork by Karl Tiedemann. It's absolutely perfect for the game.
Grand Conclusion
I like NationStates 2 a lot, but there's definite room for improvement. Some features are very good but need more work (alliances for instance), and some features are sorely lacking (search functions). I'm sure NS2 will be great once it's out of the beta stage, but I do have some concerns about how playable some aspects of the game are going to be in the long run. I'm not sure what the point of the commendations and trophies are either. Surely they're just two words for the same thing?
I also think worlds should have more interesting names than World 1, World 2, etc. It's hard to grow a community around something with such an uninspiring moniker.
---
There we go, now some smaller news:
NationStates 2 released another 4000 beta keys, which means more players. Expect even more to be released soon!
There is a new NationStates 1 issue.
More first impressions of NationStates 2 from regulars of the NationStates 1 General forum.
AND OH MY GOD FORUM 7 IS BACK.
02 September 2008
Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Beta Keys
Hello everyone, I've been terribly busy recently. SAAS buggered up my student loans application, so now I may have to wait three weeks to get it processed. Also, the bank sent me a new card which promptly either got lost in the post or stolen by a bastard postman. It's been a fun few weeks, certainly.
Anyway.
There's been a lot of fuss over these keys because people have been too excited to read. So here's how to get a beta key:
1. Pre-register your NS1 nation.
2. Cross your fingers and wait patiently.
That's it. The beta keys are handed out RANDOMLY so don't kick and scream because you haven't been given one. The idea is that more and more keys will be handed out as time passes and the site is debugged and improved.
In other news, the NationStates 2 forums have been rejiggered into an arrangement that actually makes sense.
I am also working on a new issue for NS1 (if you're wondering, I have nothing to do with the issues in NationStates 2). Events have delayed me from touching it these last two weeks but I'll get on it soon.
I'm a bit dozy right now so my take on NationStates 2 as it is so far will have to wait until the next post.
Anyway.
There's been a lot of fuss over these keys because people have been too excited to read. So here's how to get a beta key:
1. Pre-register your NS1 nation.
2. Cross your fingers and wait patiently.
That's it. The beta keys are handed out RANDOMLY so don't kick and scream because you haven't been given one. The idea is that more and more keys will be handed out as time passes and the site is debugged and improved.
In other news, the NationStates 2 forums have been rejiggered into an arrangement that actually makes sense.
I am also working on a new issue for NS1 (if you're wondering, I have nothing to do with the issues in NationStates 2). Events have delayed me from touching it these last two weeks but I'll get on it soon.
I'm a bit dozy right now so my take on NationStates 2 as it is so far will have to wait until the next post.
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