We have gained Influence

A few days ago the game programmers/Max Berry released a new game feature to nationstates: Influence. The longer a nation is in the region, and the more UN endorsements it has, the more influence the nation is supposed to have in the region, and the higher it's Influence level. Ejecting a nation from the region will cost a regional delegate a certain amount of power; the higher the Influence of the ejected nation, the higher the cost. This means, obviously, that the total control over a region that Regional Delegate used to have, is dramatically reduced. The rule was installed to give the Game Moderators a break in the numerous Griefing vs. Invading conflicts: these situations are now solved by the Influence mechanics. It is expected, however, that the new feature will have quite a large influence on how the game is played. Further is it expected that more spammers and trolls are reported to the Moderators instead of simply being ejected from the region, as these ejections would reduce the Delegates possibilities to defend the region.

The full rules can be read on the Regional Off-Site forums, as copied from the original site.