Defending Lessons Review

This thread will be dedicated to updating and improving our Defender Lessons that our newest recruits are asked to read. Please read the lessons and offer and improvements in this thread. 

Lesson 1:

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The majority of defending gameplay happens during the NationStates game updates. These updates happen twice a day at 12 PM EST/EDT and 12 AM EST/EDT, twelve hours apart. Thus, it is necessary to be able to be online at these times in order to fully participate in defending.

These two time periods are where various changes happen, such as census rankings being updated, influence increases, World Assembly proposals being passed or defeated, and most importantly: when the game elects new regional delegates. Regions update in a fixed order which will generally stay the same with every update.

Each region and nation updates only once per update. When a region updates, all nations within it also update. Once this happens, a nation's endorsements sent or received will not be counted until the following update. When a nation "updates", its endorsements of other nations will not count until the next update which happens 12 hours later. For this reason, defenders keep multiple nations stored in a late updating region in order to be able to perform as many defensive operations as possible; these nations are known as "switchers".

You can tell if a nation has updated for a particular update if there has been a recent influence change or if the region they are in has updated. This is what you will see on the nation happenings if a nation has updated:

If a region has updated, the "Last WA Update" text on a region will switch to something like "seconds ago".

Next lesson: Switchers

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Lesson 3:

There are various types of operations in defending, each with a varying degree of importance and fun.

Operation Types:

1. Detag: This is the simplest form of operation. Defenders clean up a region that raiders have "tagged" (the NationStates equivalent of graffiti, which is the main operation of raiders) and restore the old World Factbook Entry and close raider embassies, effectively doing their best to return the region's appearance to the way it was before the raid. This is arguably the least fun operation in defending and it is typically only done if there is nothing else to do.
   
2. Defense: A defense is when defenders stop active raiders who are currently trying to raid a region. This form of operation comes with two situations:
   -The defenders know where the raiders will raid and will move into the region before they do, just before it updates, in order to prevent them from possibly switching targets.-The defenders do not know where the raiders will raid, but see them staging (this looks like raiders endorsing one or several nations in a known raider staging point). At this point, the defenders will prepare to move into the same region that the raiders move into as fast as possible (this is known as chasing).
3. Liberation: A liberation is when defenders coordinate to free a region which is currently being occupied by raider forces. This is typically done if the raid was unable to be defended against or was not spotted in time.
   

The following guides will explain in more detail on how to participate in each of these operations.

Next Lesson: Detagging

Initial thoughts: I would reorder it so Defense is first and detagging is 2nd. The Defense portion also needs rewriting.


Defense: A defense is when defenders stop an active invasion attempt on a region. This can happen in several scenarios:

- An invasion attempt is spotted prior to update. An invasion can begin at any point and sometimes invaders will make their move hours prior to the next update cycle. If such a raid is spotted in a timely manner, defenders can begin deploying forces to the region right away. 

- The vast majority of invasions occur during the update cycles. Invaders, knowing their target(s) ahead of time, take advantage of their knowledge of the regional update order to deploy just seconds before their target region updates. Defenders have to spot these groups and "chase" them in real time, hoping to have the most nations in the target region by the time it updates.

Lesson 4:

After update, you must log back into the nations you've appointed Officers and detag the region.
1) Go to the tagged region's Admin page.
2) Replace the Invader World Factbook Entry with one authored by the region's natives. These can be found using a tool created by Warden-Chamberlain Haku (link to the tool). [Potentially include instructions on how to find cached images of a region page]
3) Unpin any dispatches added by the invaders.
4) Abolish the invader flag. [Once a flag tool gets made, we'll add a step about how to find and upload native flags]
5) Remove any regional tags added by the invaders (and potentially replacing native tags that were removed by the raiders).
6) Abort/Withdraw Embassies with the invading region.
7) Remove any polls that the invaders may have set up.
8) Leave the admin page and view the region for any more signs that they had been invaded, including messages left by the raiders on the Regional Message Board.
9) Once you are confident that you have restored the region's native settings, you may fully withdraw from the region. 
10) Repeat for each tagged region you have appointed yourself officer of.

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Lessons 2, 5 and 6 are near perfect with maybe only a few minor wording changes that I open up to others to recommend. The use of links, images and charts for lessons 5 and 6 make them the strongest of the lessons. I think Lesson 5 could be perfected with a video explanation included at the end and maybe a clip of a real operation.

We could also start authoring intermediate lessons that teach one how to best make use of Breeze as well as teaching defenders how to spot invasions outside of update. We should also explore making expert guides on concepts like triggering and a deep dive into regional influence for Constables to learn from.

Like I said in lieutenants, a little bit of visual aid would make the lessons much easier and faster to understand

So, for Gameplay Basics, I think founderless region info can be added in the "What can a delegate do?" section.

What can a delegate do to a region?

In many regions, a delegate cannot do anything to harm the region. If the region's founder still exists, they can set the delegacy role to "non-executive", so the delegate has no access to border control, appearance, or embassies, the tools that raiders usually use to deface a region. Even if the founder makes the delegacy "executive", so the delegate can do all these things, the founder always has supreme power. They can reverse any changes a raider makes.

The real danger comes when the founder has ceased to exist (or in really old regions made before founders existed). In these regions, the delegacy becomes automatically executive, so they can do whatever they want - and there's no founder around to stop them.

So, for Gameplay Basics, I think founderless region info can be added in the "What can a delegate do?" section.

What can a delegate do to a region?

In many regions, a delegate cannot do anything to harm the region. If the region's founder still exists, they can set the delegacy role to "non-executive", so the delegate has no access to border control, appearance, or embassies, the tools that raiders usually use to deface a region. Even if the founder makes the delegacy "executive", so the delegate can do all these things, the founder always has supreme power. They can reverse any changes a raider makes.

The real danger comes when the founder has ceased to exist (or in really old regions made before founders existed). In these regions, the delegacy becomes automatically executive, so they can do whatever they want - and there's no founder around to stop them.

I've added this to the dispatch. Thank you for the addition!

In Lesson 2, Switchers:

Go to the World Assembly page (https://www.nationstates.net/page=un) and apply the nation to join the World Assembly. Do not admit to the World Assembly yet, only apply. This will save time at update, as you can click the link to admit a switcher to the World Assembly instantly without needing to apply at the time. You can store as many application emails as you like, but they will expire after 21 days and you'll need to apply that switcher again.