The Shattered Star

Back in March, I told everyone about a free browser game/sim I was playing called Cyber Nations. Here's a copy-paste action from the last thread:

I have to say that it is by far the deepest browser game out there. The game itself is simple on the surface, but has a pretty complex economics system. Trades, government, religion, and improvement buildings all give your little nation bonuses in certain areas. When you first start off, you're primary concern is just increasing your income, but after a while, it's up to you what direction you want to go. Population, technology, etc.

The meat of the game is really in the community-driven alliance (clan) politics. A lot goes into running an alliance. War, of course, as well as running military drills so you don't get rusty, and making friends (or enemies) on the main CN forums.

I'm getting back into the game again, and this time I thought I would see if I could set up an SSX group in the game. It's got a huge community of over 30,000 people, and it could be not only a lot of fun, but also a chance to bring some good new people into SSX. A great, long-time CN player named NWRoyale has expressed interest in helping me get it off to a great start. We have a great set-up for a successful group, a great bunch of people, and a little bit of community notoriety right out of the gates. I have a feeling that it could really be a blast, so long as we can get three or four existing SSX members in on it as well.

Post if you're interested and let's see if we can get the ball rolling. NWR and myself have pretty much everything planned out for the launch. The only thing missing is you!

Roster:
Kahn
NWRoyale
Voodoo Nova
Phranky
Messiah? (no nation)

I am ready for an addiction, but it has to have a very low participation threshold. I have about 4 non-prime hours per week to dedicate to a game. If this is fun, and my contribution can matter, let me know.

Otherwise, I'll pine for AoC and commend myself for my restraint.

CN doesn't take much time at all, unless you want it to. With minimal involvment, it probably only takes ten minutes a day max to do everything that needs to be done ingame. If you're in alliance government, or in our case, a Group Mod, since we have no ranks, it can take anywhere between 30 minutes and 3 hours a day depending on the political events of the moment, like a large alliance war.

CN is as time consuming as you want it to be. But it's the greatest Internet Community I have ever been a part of.

But, there is a need for SSX on CN. A lot of people seem to have forgotten to have fun with it. I think there is a niche to be filled.
And I'm pretty convinced that SSX is the right group to fill it.

just started my nation (People Call Me Tim, on the faroe islands) and im going to take a look around. i do love a good browser game...

Well, since we have people ingame now, I decided to create my new nation as well. Here are some things we need to do:

Keep your tax rate at 20%. It is the best for brand new nations, since setting taxes too high result in a happiness lost that small nations cannot afford.

Set your team color to blue. You get a bonus for trading with people on the same team, and most alliances are dedicated to one color. Blue Team is one of the largest and best organized, and we also have a lot of blue imagery, so that's where we're going to be.

If you stay in Peace Mode for more than 3 days, your nation's economy will suffer. Stay in War Mode. Higher DEFCON levels are also bad for your nation. Stay in DEFCON 5 at all times. If you are attacked for whatever reason, switch to DEFCON 1. That, however, should be easily avoidable if you have an Alliance Affiliation other than "None."

Until we are official, put "Republic of Allied Defenses" as your Alliance Affiliation. If you stay on None, you will definitely be attacked sooner or later. RAD (yes, witty acronym) is run by some friends, and they won't mind.

Buy infrastructure. Technology is useless when you are very small. You may need to buy a little bit of land if you get a warning about high population density, but don't go overboard. Land and the nation map fo not really matter at all. There are just too many nations in the game that overlap to make meaningful land stats feasible.

What seems to be the roster right now:

Kahn
NWRoyale
Voodoo Nova
Phranky
Messiah? (no nation)

Added it to the OP as well.

This is a very promising start.

Since you guys have the requisite number, I've created a forum. Kahn, you need to give me a forum description though, unless you like the current one .

Spectacular.
Seems as though it's time to get started. Let's do it right.

Thanks, Fahd! I'll PM you about that description, even though I gotta say the current one is pretty awesome.