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This guide is an extremely abridged version of the Complete Guide To Military Gameplay, which may be consulted for more in depth information on how all of this works. But as a relative amateur myself, the goal here is to run you through a simple crash course of military stuff for rookie soldiers.

As you may well have noticed, NationStates has no official military mechanism. You can build up your Defence Forces through the choices you make in addressing your nation's issues, but short of the annual N-Day chaos, there's no way for nations to attack one another apart from role-playing it. As a result, military conflicts take place on a regional level, where we often have to get crafty in order to carry out successful operations.

Every region in NationStates designates one nation to serve as World Assembly Delegate. This position may sometimes hold executive authority over a region, meaning that the nation holding the delegacy is all-powerful therein, or it may have no powers at all beyond the delegacy. Or, of course, it might be somewhere in between. If a region allows extensive authority to its WA Delegate, it's possible to capture the position in order to gain a degree of control over the entire region.

This distinction who serves as WA Delegate is automatically made by NationStates itself based off of which nation within each region has the most endorsements from other WA member nations within that region. As a result, to capture the delegacy of a region, other nations may coordinate an effort to move in and endorse one of their own, to have them installed as WA Delegate and take control.

So... How exactly does that turn into military gameplay?

Some regions make use of this improvised military aspect of NationStates to continuously raid regions weaker than them, while others use their strength to take over regions and repair them after they've been raided. Others, such as United Kingdom, don't officially classify themselves as Raider or Defender, but instead as Independent. This means that the region will take whatever military actions it deems necessary to its interests or fitting to its policies, without so much focus on whether they're the aggressor or not.

Once a potential operation has been identified that fits the desires of regional leadership, a mission is planned. However, the timing of the mission is very sensitive, as a delegacy won't just transfer as soon as another nation receives more endorsements than the old WA delegate. Instead, delegacy transfers (and therefore the operations that depend on them) occur only at one of two times each day: the Major Update and the Minor Update.

The Major Update occurs from 00:00 to 01:00 EDT, while the Minor Update is from 12:00 to 13:00 EDT. As a result, military forces attempting to carry out operations must carefully coordinate their efforts so that ample soldiers are all logged on to NationStates and paying attention at the same time. For this purpose, a Discord server is typically used for operational communications.

When the designated official on the Discord server gives the signal, all participating soldiers will move their puppet nation(s) from their jump point and into the target region, and immediately will endorse a pre-determined nation or nation(s) in an attempt to see them elected WA Delegate at the update. In order to prevent opposing forces from having time to counter these actions, missions typically wait until as close as possible to the region's specific update time to move in and endorse, which means that this process usually must be completed within mere seconds. (But don't worry, it's not too difficult to get the hang of it, and practice makes perfect!)

If enough puppet nations are moved into the target region and endorse the "Point" nation, then the WA Delegacy is captured, and the person controlling that nation can carry out administrative actions within the region. This could mean altering embassies or tags, banning or ejecting nations, suppressing posts on the RMB, tampering with the WFE, and so on. (That said, most military forces, the UKAF included, have rules on what conduct is and isn't allowed by their soldiers when in a foreign region.)

Okay, so what's the quick run-through look like?

Step One: Create a new nation, separate from your main NationStates nation. This will be your puppet, and serve as your soldier.

Step Two: Enlist in the United Kingdom Armed Forces. You can do so in the Defence Office if you're a citizen on the forums, and if you're not, then you can telegram the Prime Minister (as listed in the WFE) to get the enlistment form. Fill it out and send it back, and your enlistment application will be processed.

Step Three: Assuming you enlist successfully, you'll be added to a UKAF Discord server. From there, commanding officers planning operations will ask everyone from time to time when they're available, in order to nail down the time of the next mission. When enough people all expect to be available at a set time, an operation will be scheduled, and those who committed to participating at that time are expected to log on when needed.

Step Four: Carry out your duty as a soldier of the UKAF. When told to jump, move your nation to the proper region and endorse who you're told to. If all goes well, your fellow soldiers will do the same, and the mission will be successful. Military operations are a team effort in this way.

Step Five: Enjoy your victory. If you and your comrades were successfully able to execute the mission, you'll all be listed in a Defence Office report specifying what action was taken, along with who served in the operation. If you're consistently serving in operations and show yourself to be a reliable soldier, odds are you'll begin making your way up the rankings.

Things to Keep in Mind:

-You will need a puppet nation to participate in the military. Do not use your main nation that resides in United Kingdom.
-Your puppet nation will need to be a member of the World Assembly, at least at the time of operations.
-You will have to make an effort to log on to NationStates at a specific time. If you log on too late or leave too early, you won't be able to participate.
-It's okay if you don't have prior experience. Everyone starts out as a beginner, and we'll provide training.
-A military career is what you make of it. For some, it's about glory. For others, it's about regional security. And to others, it's about regional influence.

Sound like something you'd be interested in?

If so, enlist in the United Kingdom Armed Forces today. If you have any questions, we're happy to answer them!

See you on the battlefield, soldier!