NSTracker

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Known as "The Players National Network" NST offers a variety of tools that enhance and expand on the player experience. NST is billed as "the premier suite of tools to broaden your NationStates experience featuring; mapping tools, timelines, newspapers, journals, military, economic and domestic statistics, a fully stocked arcade, photo galleries and our very own YouTube clone for sharing videos with your friends along with so much more".: Currently operated by Assorro, NST is in its 5th major iteration which was released in February 2017.

What is NSTracker?

The core function of NSTracker is a calculator of national statistics however it has since developed new features beyond the core.

[It contains a number of new features, including:
  • Support for nations in large regions (by removing region support)
  • Historical data trackers with line graphs
  • Pie graph for government budgets
  • Side-by-side nation comparisons

History of NSTracker

NSTracker started as a calculator based on NSEconomy (by Commerce Heights) and was created in 2005 by Fostonia. Following Fostonia's disappearance in 2007-2008 the original NSTracker site and code were lost. In 2010 Assorro of the region Absolutionbegan to operate a full-fledged successor to the original program that was based on open source code from the original project.

Originally referred to as "The Players National Calculator", NSTracker has adopted the title "The Players National Network" to reflect the development of features beyond national statistics.

Version 1

The original

Version 2

Version 3

Version 4

Version 5

Using NSTracker

The Basics

NSTracker can be accessed at http://nstracker.retrogade.com or http://www.peachiekeen.net/nstracker. Enter the name of the nation you wish to check at the prompt and click "Submit Query". You will see a page full of information about that nation.

Nation Info

The top of the page shows the nation's flag, name, motto, and region. It also shows if that nation is a member of the UN.

Domestic Statistics

This section contains basic information about the nation itself. If you click on the Government Category, you can view more detailed information about the various UN Categories.

Government Budget Details

This section shows a breakdown of the various categories of government spending. The pie chart offers a graphical way of interpreting the numbers as well.

Economic Details

This section shows details about the nation's economy.

Comparing Two Nations

To compare two nations against each other, enter the second nation's name in the "Compare Nation" box and click the "Compare Nation" button. Now, instead of just one set of data, two sets will appear. Also, for every piece of data that can be compared, the higher one will be highlighted.

Comparing Multiple Nations

To compare more than two nations, click the "Compare more nations" link in the Compare Nations section. Now you can compare up to five nations. With this extended compare, however, displayed data is limited. No pie charts, tracker graphs, or tracker options are available in the extended compare. To hide the extra input boxes, click "Compare fewer nations".

Tracker Graphs

If a nation has an active tracker with historical data, you will see [GRAPH] links beside many pieces of data. Click a [GRAPH] link, and a line graph will appear showing up to 30 of that nation's last data points.

Trackers

Nation trackers store historical information on various nations. The tracker updater runs every day at noon Eastern time (although not all trackers are updated daily). Trackers only store the last 30 pieces of data per nation. If nobody views a nation's stats in 30 days, or if the nation is deleted from NationStates, that nation's tracker is automatically removed.

Adding a Tracker

In order to view historical information on your nation, you need to add a tracker to it. To do this, scroll down to the "Tracker Info" section (near the bottom of the page) and click the "Add a tracker to this nation" link. Select the frequency you wish the tracker to pull information. The default frequency is every 1 day (daily). You can set this as high as every 2 weeks. Choose a password and enter it into both boxes. Click the Submit button, and your tracker will be activated. Note that you won't be able to view any graphs until the next day.

Managing Trackers

Once you've added a tracker to your nation, you can manage its settings. In the "Tracker Info" section, there are four links:

  • Change tracker frequency: Allows you to change the frequency with which your tracker is updated.
  • Change password: Change your tracker's password.
  • Clear records: Clear your tracker's historical records. The tracker remains active, however. (Next to this option is the number of records currently stored - up to 30 maximum)
  • Remove tracker: Removes your tracker.

Note that each of these options requires your password, so only you can perform these operations.


Miscellaneous

Statistics

You can view statistics on tracked nations by clicking the "View Statistics" link in the footer of every NSTracker page. Use the "Select a category" box to view statistics for a particular UN Category of nations, or select "Overall Stats" to view statistics for all tracked nations. You can also access a Category's stats by clicking the "View Statistics" link in the Category Info window.

Short Numbers

By default, NSTracker shows full numbers for population and currency amounts. In the Compare Nation section, you can click the "Show short numbers" link to have NSTracker summarize each number. For example, "$47,315,312,262,867,5309.40" becomes "$47.32 billion". To revert back to long numbers, click the "Show full numbers" link.

Currently Tracked Nations List

You can view a list of the currently tracked nations by clicking the number of nations at the bottom of the page (Currently tracking ## nations). The list is sorted alphabetically, in pages of 25 nations each. Next to each nation's name, in parentheses, is the nation's UN Category.

Contact Info

If you need more help with NSTracker,


External Links