NationStates program messed up

[GeneralTacticus]

Oh well, I gues just need to give it some more time with my socialist nation...

[Urban Ranger]

Well the tax rate is still creeping up

[GeneralTacticus]

And what about your economy? Does it really matter if you have very high tax rates if your economy is going well?

[Urban Ranger]

Well, my economy has been slipping for no reason. Damn it!

[Mr. President]

The NationStates program is really weird. I wonder why any of us still use it.

[Urban Ranger]

Because it takes 30 seconds a day to deal with the "issues." I am ignoring half of the "ratings" anyway.

[Whaleboy]

Yeah, I think that the ratings and the way it calculates stuff about a nation is absolute pants. Like I said in another thread, if I was a RL nation, I'd be an economic powerhouse! I have a population of over 800 million at the theoretical maximum level for liberty (the mill limit thankyou very much!), and pro-business policies as long as the people dont suffer. However, last time I looked, it said I was weak.

Im just going to ignore the economic ratings to a great extent, as long as my policies are good economically. The civil and political rights seem a little more accurate, so I will consider those. Not sure about military rankings. I am inclined to think that they are also skewed, but then, I suppose people like Drogue rely on them to guage their numbers, but I do believe that they are inaccurate... probably concentrating on ground, sea and air based troops, which is not how Marijuania's military is structured at this stage.

[GeneralTacticus]

Do recall that the economic rankings are relative... if, say, Kuwait (which has less than 1 million people, IIRC) had a GDP of $40 bn, then it would rightly be considered an economic powerhouse, but if, say, Pakistan were to have that same GDP, it would be (correctly) considered an eocnomic basket-case.

[Urban Ranger]

Be that as it may, you'd expect some of the issues, such as budgets and such, should not come up as random events. They should appear regularly at least, like once every 10 issues, if not as options that the player can adjust at will (e.g. Social Engineering in Alpha Centauri).

Sure, other issues such as "Nazi party rally" are random, but things that are directly under government control should not. Otherwise, you get punished for trying things out.

[GeneralTacticus]

Yes, I agree that things like that definitely need to be more under your control... hopefully, they'll have it in NS2, at least.

[Whaleboy]

It seems to take the options you choose when you start up a nation as gospel too. Marijuania and Stanleystan have been following identical policies, but the latter has a thriving economy, most likely because I was pro-capitalism from the start. *Arrgghhh I feel so dirty!*

It would be a good idea if you had an interface, consisting of a number of sliding scales, for stuff like military spending, education, health etc. They can take out of a warchest that varies according to the economy, so one can instantly engineer ones nation and set policies, in a manner that is closer to RL. That would be so cool!

[GeneralTacticus]

It seems to take the options you choose when you start up a nation as gospel too.

Yes, that is rather odd... I've seen nations being described as being 'renowned for their complete absence of social welfare' while at the same time the government has been 'slowly introducing social welfare programs'

[Urban Ranger]

The Rogue Nation of Gorgeous Specimens is very similar to The Dominion of Noosland, except that it has a higher tax rate. Strangely, the former has a "Strong" economy while that latter is "Imploded."

Definitely messed up.

[GeneralTacticus]

You of all people should know that having a high tax rate isn't bad for the eocnomy, as long as it's spent right...

[Whaleboy]

That is true. Stanleystan has a thriving economy and 47% tax!