What is manual recruitment?
Recruitment in NationStates takes place in three ways: Stamps, API, and Manual. For this guide, we will focus on manual recruiting, the recommended method by the Astellarian Government which doesnt require spending real world money. (especially in this economy).

Why is manual recruitment so good?
Each type of telegram takes a different amount of time to reach a nation's inbox. API telegrams send slowly, targeting only a few nations, and take a long time to reach an inbox. Stamp telegrams target all new nations, but can send slowly, and sometimes don't reach a nation's inbox - this is because each nation can only receive a maximum number of recruitment telegrams at a time. When you manually recruit a nation just as they're founded, your manual telegram is faster than stamps and API, and will have a much better chance of being one of those telegrams that actually gets into the inbox.

Manual recruitment is free and easy. With our custom built and easy to use bot, recruitment can be done by anyone, at any time - as little or as much as you'd like.

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How do I become a manual recruiter?
A superb question! The hardest part of manually recruiting is setting up - and even then, it only takes three minutes at most! Just follow this simple step-by-step guide:

1. First of all, be sure to copy our recruitment template:

   [i]The billowing smoke that characterizes a fresh conflict emanates throughout the skyline of the capital city of %NATION%. You had just led a rebel group in toppling the unpopular government, and now, you're the big man now.[/i]
   
   As you sit in your Palace, looking over the nation that you've just couped, you cant but feel a sense of accomplishment. Once a mere nobody in %NATION% , you've ascended to become %NATION%'s face on the world stage, and the representative of your people. But all of the couping business was in the past, now was not the time to celebrate. You know the risk - that someone is going to topple you as well. You need one thing to secure your reign - power, friends, alliances, [b]you need a region to join.[/b]
   
   The recruitment letters pour in from the many regions vying for your presence, after all, you're certainly someone many would want on their side. Overwhelmed, you ask your secretary to filter out the many letters, and come back with the recruitment letter he/she deems to be the best for %NATION%
   
   The backlogs of telegrams were massive, and it took a while for your Secretary to comb through it all. But after a few hours, your Secretary sends you a link to a single letter, out of the dozens there were initially.
   [spoiler=[b]⭐ Open the Letter⭐[/b]]
   Hello, esteemed leader of %NATION%, welcome to NationStates! My name is [b]Asteria Astra[/b]!, but you can call me [b]Astie[/b]. I am the representative of the region of the Galactic Empire of [b][region]Astellaria[/region][/b]!
   
   First of all, I would like to congratulate you on that nicely organized coup🫡 
   
   I'm sure you are getting several of these telegrams right now, after all everyone wants you in their communities, but let me tell you [u][b]why you should join Astellaria.[/b][/u]
   
   [b]⭐[region]Astellaria[/region]⭐[/b] as a region, is very new, but that doesn't mean we don't offer something that may be in your interest.
   
   [list][u][b]Reasons on why you should join Astellaria[/b][/u][u][/u]
   
   
   [b][*]An active friendly community[/b]
   Are you a person who finds it hard to fit anywhere? Or a person who wants to hang out? Our community is very active and friendly, particularly on our discord server
   
   [*][b]System of Democracy[/b]
   Want a voice in our government? Fret not, for we abide by a democratic system, where each and every citizen's vote is valued, and you can rise the ranks and lead our region one day.
   
   [*][b]Military Services[/b]
   Do you want to embark on a mission of conquest? Do you want to invade or defend other regions? Well here at Astellaria, we operate our own military.
   [*][b]Regional Roleplay [/b]
   Do you fancy fleshing out your national lore, engage in some worldbuilding or tell stories? Well here at Astellaria, we have our own RP based on our custom planet called Lacia! You can even plop yourself on [url=https://www.nationstates.net/page=map/mid=11367][b]our map[/b][/url], and we have our own economic system.
   
   [*][b]Gaming events[/b]
   In our [b]discord server[/b] (https://discord.com/invite/ns4ya3BKrP) , we host many gaming events and regularly play and livestream games such as Hoi4, League of Legends, Gartic Phone, Minecraft, etc.
   
   [*][b]Conlang[/b]
   In Astellaria, we are currently creating our very own conlang (fictional language).
   
   [*][b]Our own regional discord, regional forum, and wiki portal on IIWiki[/b] (youll learn more things we have to offer when you join us!)
   
   [b]And so much more![/b]
   [/list]
   
   If you're ready to embark on this memorable journey, click the button below, and I'll personally send a team of movers to move your nation to our region. Don't worry, I'll personally cover any expenses.😉
   
   Once again, congratulations Leader. [b]May fate smile upon you, and may the stars illuminate your path.[/b]
   
   Best wishes,
   [b]Asteria Astra[/b] [b]of [region]Astellaria[/region]
   [/b][/spoiler]
   
   

   This dispatch is updated with the current and most up to date recruitment telegram that all recruiters will be using. Copy this template in its entirety. There's a part that says %NATION%, don't change that! That'll automatically fill in the name of the person you're recruiting. We do this for personalizing telegrams for each recruit.

2. Now you've got the template, head to Telegrams on NationStates. Click 'New Telegram'. You must then click the drop down arrow - it looks like 🔽. From there, a new box will open up which says "This is a recruitment telegram.' Check that box, and it'll expand to 'This is a recruitment telegram for Astellaria' - that means you're done. You must complete this part, otherwise you can get in trouble with NS Mods for not marking your telegrams as recruitment! (Trust me, I've been there before. Don't make that mistake.)

3. Now, in the input box, write 'tag:template'. This will create a template, meaning you don't have to enter the telegram every single time - the template will give you a code. You can then input that code instead - and our bot will even do that for you - which will automatically send the rest of the telegram. No need to mark your telegram as recruitment every single time, so long as you've marked the template as recruitment, all of your templates will be recruitment. 2

4. Paste in the recruitment template that you got from step one and then send! You'll now be given a code - it'll look like %TEMPLATE-XXXXXXXX%, with the X replaced with a unique number code. This can only be sent from your nation. Copy this code down! You'll use it to send your telegrams out!

5. Now, head to this page showing recent nation foundings. Start clicking from the most recent one. (We recommended discerning whether or not a new found is a puppet, dont waste your time recruiting puppets! They are likely already headed to a puppet storage)

6. Send a telegram to that nation with your telegram template formatted something like %TEMPLATE-XXXXXXXX%. This is all you need to do. The template will be generated on the recievers end.

7. Repeat numerous times.
   

Things recruiters should have
Be patient
This is the number one rule of recruiting. At best, you are only likely to recruit 1 percent of the nations you sent a telegram to. The rates of recruiting are very low even for large regions, but it doesnt mean you cannot make a difference. With enough people just like you, Astellaria can grow into something greater.