Want to become a member of the snake army? Read this first.

Our army, which we call the Snake Unarmed Peace Alliance (SUPA) is the most important part of The Snakes. It's job is to defend regions from invaders. Are you interested in joining SUPA? You need to read this if you want to join us! Here is the basic process to joining our military:

- Read this dispatch

- Join Discord if you haven't already. The link was telegrammed to you when you joined The Snakes. This is *required* to join SUPA

- Telegram The Python. You really only need to say "Hi I want to join SUPA", The Python can figure the rest out.

- The Python will give you the "Threadsnake" role on Discord and send you a telegram response as soon as possible.

- You will detag a few regions with the help of SUPA.

- You will be given the Viper role on Discord.

- You will then take part in a larger defense (chasing) operation.

- You will be given the Boa role on Discord.

- Congratulations! You have become a member of SUPA!

Training stages:

- Threadsnake is for new applicants who are doing their first training
- Viper is for people who have completed Threadsnake training
- Boa is the main body of SUPA members, after they have completed Viper and Threadsnake training.

What is raiding?

Raiding is when a group of nations cooperate with each other to invade a region. They do this by joining the World Assembly, moving into the target region and endorsing a specific member of the group. That nation becomes the new WA delegate of the region. Often the WA delegate has powers over the region, so the nation can:

- Tag the region by changing the national flag, changing the world factbook entry or playing with embassies.

- Destroy the region by ejecting everyone and leaving the region themselves - the region will disappear on the next update.

Types of raids
- Tag raids
- Occupations
- Stealth raids

Tag raids

At about 9:00 - 10:30 PM Pacific Time and 9:00 - 10:00 AM Pacific Time every day there is the update. 9:00 - 10:30 PM Pacific Time is the called the major update and 9:00 - 10:00 AM Pacific Time is the minor update. Different regions update at different times, but usually in the same order, and they also tend to take about the same time each update to update. During the updates the WA delegates of each region update, as well as stats of the nations in them. Tag raids happen during the updates.

In a tag raid, a group of nations endorse a point nation and then move together to the target region just before the update. Once the update occurs, the point becomes the delegate of the region and then the point can change the national flag or world factbook entry for defenders and natives to clean up.

Since different regions update at different times, this can be used to raid multiple regions (this is multi-tag raiding). However, since when the regions update the member nations update, one must have more than one nation to be able to multi-tag raid. The nations that are used in multi-tag raids are called puppets. Nations must also be in a late updating region before jumping so that they do not update before the jump. Late updating regions used for this are called "jump points". The Snakes uses Artificial Solar System, along with most other defender regions.

One cannot have more than one nation in the World Assembly at the same time (this is called multiing and is against NationStates rules) so one must resign from the WA on their previous puppet before joining the WA on their next puppet.

Occupations

Occupations are probably the simplest type of raid. This is when a group of nations move into the target region and endorse a specific member (the point) just before the update. The point now owns the region and can do whatever they want, such as ejecting and banning all the natives of the region, changing the world factbook entry and flag, playing with the tags and embassies and so on. Often the raiders will refound the region and keep it as a trophy (i.e. eject all the natives so that the region disappears on the next update, and then found a region with the same name). Pilers are raider that are not available during the updates, so they put a WA nation in the region that is being raided and endorse the point, to make it harder for the point to lose the WA delegacy.

Stealth raids

Stealth raids are infiltration that is done by the 007's of NationStates. Basically it is a coup. One has to convince the natives of the region to make them delegate. How to:

- Found a nation and DO NOT use anything similar to your main (e.g. name, motto, flag etc.)
- Let it recieve some recruiting telegrams and move it to one of the regions that sent a tg. Do NOT join an R/D region and do NOT communicate with the natives.
- Answer issues about once every 1 or 2 days on your puppet
- After about a week move to the target region
- Either attempt to convince the natives to make you delegate, usually by either tarting endorsements (endorse people and ask them to endorse you back) or infiltrating the government of the region (the slow way), or coordinate with other operatives to endorse each other so that someone becomes delegate (the fast way)
- Raided!

What is defending and how do defenders work?

Defenders are the opposite of raiders. Our job is to stop raiders from raiding regions or to liberate regions they have raided. There are many different ways defenders can work. We can simply endorse the rightful owner of a raided region, or we can endorse our own point, "raiding" the region and then eject all the raiders before endorsing the rightful owner of the region who then gets delegacy back.

Chasing

This is how we stop raiders from tag raiding. We choose a known raider region and look at their jump point regions so we can see which nation is currently acting as point. We endorse each other and then jump to the region which the raiders jump to as quickly as possible so that we become the delegate instead of the raiders.

Detagging

This involves un-tag-raiding a region. A group of nations endorsing a point nation move to a tag raided region just before it updates. Once the point becomes delegate, they "clean up" any tag raid. Here is what to do in a detag:
(1) Create 10 puppets (with the same email address) and move them all to Artificial Solar System (It's acronym is ASS so don't be offended if I use it!)
(2) Apply to join the World Assembly on all of them, but DO NOT join WA on more than one puppet at the same time
(3) You will need 2 tabs open: your email and Discord
(4) Once update begins, join the WA on one of your puppets, and someone will post a nation link. Open that in a new tab and endorse the nation, then close the tab
(5) Someone will then post a region link. Open it in a new tab and as soon as you hear the ping on Discord, jump to that region as fast as you can!
(6) Once someone posts "hit" or "miss" on Discord, resign from the WA on the puppet you just used and join on another puppet. Repeat steps 4, 5 and 6 until you've used up all your puppets.

If you are not the point, then resign from the WA on the puppet you just used and join on another puppet. If you are the point of a detagging operation, dismiss all raider officers and then appoint yourself as officer with appearance, communications, embassies and polls authority (please call the office %%The Snakes%% are fendas XD), resign from the WA and join on another puppet. Make sure you dismiss raiders and appoint yourself as officer before resigning from WA. After the update finishes, here is a checklist of what to do:

- Change the world factbook entry to what it was before the tag raid (use this tool created by Haku to obtain it)
- Abolish any flags that the raiders have put on the region
- Close embassies with the raider region and restore any embassies that the raiders have removed (you can see which embassies were removed on the History page of the region)
- Remove any tags that the raiders have added such as the Invader tag.
- Once you've finished that, you must resign as officer in the region.

De-occupying

De-occupying, is, well, undoing an occupation-type raid. To do this, a large number of (defender) WA nations (that have not updated yet and are endorsing a point) move to an occupied region just before it updates. The point becomes the new WA delegate and undoes the occupation. If you are the point of a de-occupation, do the same as in a de-tag, but also clear the ban list.

Independents

These are R/D organisations that sometimes raid and sometimes defend, and have no fixed stance on raiding and defending. Examples include Lily, The East Pacific and The North Pacific.

Update skills

Basically every R/D operation happens during the updates. You want to be good at working with the updates to make operations easier.

Jump points

These are late updating region used for R/D operations. Usually puppets are stored there so that they do not update before the operation (nations can only update once in an update so they cannot have updated before the operation or they will not be useable). The Snakes shares Artificial Solar System with most other defenders.

Some common jump points and who owns them:

Devide by Zero is owned by The Black Hawks, a raider region.
The Allied Nations of Egalaria is Lily, an independent region.
Frozen Circle is The East Pacific, also independent.
Artificial Solar System is a shared jump point used by many different defender regions including the Snakes.
Common Jaguar Wilds is currently one of the best jump points, being 2nd to last updating region and was used during the liberation of Smol Fur Empire, a rather late updating region.

Update surfing

This is ideal for operations in regions that update after the jump point being used. Update surfing is a method of avoiding updates, in which one moves to a late updating region before the update starts, and then moves to an earlier updating region after it has updated. Here is a guide on update surfing:

- Before the update, move to ASS
- When a ASS is about to update or someone asks you to, move to Chicken Overlords (this is a region friendly with The Snakes which also happens to be puppet storage and particularly early updating)
- Stay in Chicken Overlords until the order to jump is given.

How to trigger

In an operation, the trigger is the person who gives the order to "go" or jump. They have to calculate the update time and give the order to jump just before the target region updates.

- View an update time sheet here. It will show each region and approximately when it updates.
- Hit Ctrl+F and type the name of the region. It will find the target region for you.
- Next to the name of the region there will be a big number (usually it is in the thousands). It is how many seconds into the update this region updates. Right of this big number there will be a smaller number. This is approximately how many minutes into the update the region updates in.
- Scroll up and look for a region whose update time is a few seconds less than the target region (someone will tell you approximately how many seconds, but generally about 20-30 for detags and 10-20 for liberations) (if there is none, then do the first one that updates before the time). This is the trigger region.
- About 2 minutes before the region is expected to update (the minutes into update thing is for this), visit the region page and spam-refresh it until it says "Last WA Update: Seconds ago". When it does, immediately call (and ping) GO on Discord and move to the target (NOT the trigger) as quickly as you can!
Get good at your chasing

As a defender, you will chase very often. The best way to do this is using a browser extension which helps jump fast. Raiders tend to use very fast triggering and usually jump only a few seconds before the target region updates. If one uses Firefox browser, then a good browser extension to use would be Snakey. If one uses Chrome (or Microsoft Edge or Opera) then Breeze++ can be used. I'd like to give some huge thanks to Vincent Drake for creating Breeze++.

HOW TO CHASE USING BREEZE++:

- Make sure all puppets you are using are in ASS (or the jump point of whichever organisation you are working with).
- Apply for the WA on all your puppets. Do NOT join the WA on more then one puppet at the same time, this is multiing and is against NationStates rules. Tip: Breeze++ makes this easy - simply hit P twice to apply for WA.
- Once update begins, join the WA on ONE puppet only and endorse the defender point you are working with (unless you are the point)
- Go to the region page of the jump point of the raider organisation you are chasing. Hit H to see the Ajax2 activity page and choose a nation that is participating in the raid. View the nation page of that nation you have chosen and hit D to dossier.
- Go to your reports page, set the number where it says "Show reports from _ hours" to something very small like 0.01, make sure only the "Dossier" checkbox is checked and spam N and M. N will reload the page and M will take you to the region at which the raiders jump to.
- As soon as you get taken to the region page, stop hitting N (or it will slow you down as it will keep refreshing the page) and focus on spamming M. Tip: Doing this too quickly will force Snakey to load the page too many times, which wastes time, chasing has to be super fast. Practise makes perfect - over time you will get used to the speed at which you should do M and N.
- Once you are finished, resign from the WA on your puppet. If you are doing another chase the same update, also make sure you join the WA on another puppet.

HOW TO CHASE USING SNAKEY:

- Make sure all puppets you are using are in ASS (or the jump point of whichever organisation you are working with).
- Apply for the WA on all your puppets. Do NOT join the WA on more then one puppet at the same time, this is multiing and is against NationStates rules.
- Once update begins, join the WA on ONE puppet only and endorse the defender point you are working with (unless you are the point)
- Go to the activity page of the jump point of the raider organisation you are chasing.
- Find who is acting as point - they will be the person who many nations are all endorsing. Alternatively someone will tell you who the raider point is. Dossier that nation.
- - Go to your reports page, set the number where it says "Show reports from _ hours" to something very small like 0.01, make sure only the "Dossier" checkbox is checked and spam Alt+G and Alt+J. Alt+G will reload the reports page and Alt+J will take you to the region at which the raiders jump to, as well as move you to that region. Tip: Doing this too quickly will force Snakey to load the page too many times, which wastes time, chasing has to be super fast. Practise makes perfect - over time you will get used to the speed at which you should do Alt+G and Alt+J
- Once you are finished, resign from the WA on your puppet. If you are doing another chase the same update, also make sure you join the WA on another puppet.

Ranks

SUPA does not have much "rank" once one joins the main army (other than trigger, which you will recieve if you choose to pass trigger training, which gives you the right to train newcomers but other than that is just bragging rights), however, any legislation passed regarding SUPA is binding upon all members. SUPA only really does daily updating work, which anyone can organise/lead really - all liberations happen either in the Libcord Discord server or the Anti Raiding League (I will make sure you are in one of these servers when a liberation is happening as permanent dictator).

Now go and join SUPA!

Now send a telegram to The Python! Good luck!

If you cannot/do not want to be available during the updates (9:00 AM/PM Pacific Time) then tell The Python in the telegram and you can join the Snake Unarmed Peace Alliance Reinforcements (SUPAR), which helps SUPA and/or the Anti Raiding League during an operation. This is separate to SUPA and no training is required to join.