1. Server rules has received an update relating to the roleplay-combat section. The rule has been changed so that after being downed the person left standing must revive. If the person, after being revived, runs a second time, then they may be executed (popped). A full detailed explanation of the rule change relating to the actual word for word details can be found here.
2. Heist rules have received an update relating to a needed rule clarification. The clarification was that a roll of 5 or less fails the lock picking section, and if lock picks are used, they will instantly break. This rule clarification was made to go in line with server rules to keep things consistent. Details relating to the rule change can be found here. Another small note to that is that heist rules is now included on the rules drop down menu for rules, yay!
3. Warclaims and heist have been merged into the same sub-forum and now have form submission links on the new information post. With this noted you no longer modreq for heist and you now file a form for them. Warclaims have not changed at all other than that you now use the form to file a topic and not copy and paste the format into a topic.

More information regarding some future moderation changes will be coming in the near future later on this week. Have a great week everyone!

Introduction

Hey all, how is everyone doing? Much like last month I hope that y’all had a great month and going forward continue to do so. November was a slow going month for the Application Team, with a few folks leaving unfortunately. We’ve got a fair bit being prepared for the launch of 7.0 concerning new players and old players alike. If you’re interested in joining the Application Team, we are still recruiting! If you find it fun to help new players find their way on the server, don’t be afraid to stop by! We’re looking for anyone who has the patience and drive to help out, while also keeping a clean slate with both the team and the server as a whole. Lets go ahead and get rolling with the rest of the updates!

Application Team Roster

New Player Data

This month, as per usual, Humans are the most applied to race at 56.9%! In second we have the Elves at 28.7%. Following that, we have the Dwarves 7.7%, Halflings at 3.3%, and the Orcs/Other at 1.7%. 

Our application rate has dropped a bit more unfortunately, but much like last month that can and should be expected. With finals for various schools continuing it only makes sense the rate has dropped a bit more. With the new year coming up, we are expecting to see the application rate rise once more. Our acceptance rate remains close to last months, only falling to 77.2% from 79.6%. Our denial rate sits at 22.8%, remaining low for the most part. The most accepted timezone sits with Americas at 71.6%, second would be Europe at 21.9%, and Oceania in last at 6.6%.

Member Alterations

This month we’ve only lost a few folks, thankfully. We’re still looking to add more, don’t be afraid to apply!

- Demigryph -

- Rimwyrhta -

- sophiaa -

Team Data

We’ve seen many of our new team members pick up and kick butt this month while handling applications, which is obviously fantastic! We’re hoping to see the same effort and hard work put in by veteran and new members alike this month. Either way, let’s take a moment to appreciate and celebrate the hard work put in by this month’s application queen!

Going into December, we’re going to continue to work on the projects we’ve gotten going. Our hope is to implement these and future projects with 7.0, that way new players introduced to the new map will have an easy enough time getting used to the resources and the world we’ve designed for them. These projects include the large scale New Player Guide, the Tailor’s Guild, and a revamp of the Pots and Pandits. As per last month, other ideas are being considered and we’re looking to begin work on a few other ideas. Many of these will also be released with 7.0 if we wind up beginning work on them as well. 

A Personal Thank You

During the month of November, my father unfortunately passed away and it’s been difficult dealing with that since. However, @Fireheartstepped up and helped out while I’ve been dealing with this issue. Much like last month, he’s really been handling his work and making his presence known. I really appreciate you bud and I’m very thankful you’ve been here when I’ve needed it.

‹ Introduction ›

Hi everyone, Corpean here one month deep into my GM Director tenure. A lot of changes are coming up in preparation for 7.0, which may be met with glee by some. We’re focusing now on war rules and changes to the current system as well as other areas that will be talked about.

‹ New Changes ›

War rules have begun the first stages of an overhaul, we’re currently using information gathered from “Your View” posts to create a barebones draft for the new rules with hopes that automation will eventually take over the process. Currently all wars are handled manually and must be verified for legitimacy, and set up by hand by Game Moderators and Administrators. This new draft gathers from a multiple of topics that have been discussed, such as lag. Lag is a problem on the war server due to Minecraft being based on Java, and having 400+ players at times all fighting creates an enormous influx of packets and strains the server. We’re looking into ways to resolve this. CBs are currently being reviewed as well as other new additions. However, since this is a server wide project it needs Administrator approval and we are currently working with the Administration to implement these ideas as soon as possible. The current rewrites and structure in the team, finals and upcoming holiday season has caused great stress on GMs, as such I had requested Telanir to approve the restriction of warclaims to once per weekend which you can read more here.

GMs are currently being trained on how to oversee heists, which will allow for a more dynamic roleplay environment for the players and streamline the current process. You can find all information regarding heists here.
 

Currently, we are working with the administration to promote more transparency in the way the Game Moderation Team operates. We are reviewing ways (namely where to put) the Game Team Policies on the forum so they can be reviewed by players in compliance with our mission statement.

We’re currently looking at a new policy in the Game Team, that is already implemented an in effect, which is GM Policy section 13 encompass the following.

“/fly for building or recording

        Players are granted /fly for building or recording only under the following conditions.

            They are a region owner (RO) of a nation or are designated as a builder/recorder by an RO working inside the nation’s region(s).

                A maximum of 2 builders may be allocated per nation for /fly purposes, region owners have an uncapped amount.

            They are a member of the staff team working on staff related projects.

        A Game Moderator should be near the players with /fly to prevent any potential abuse.

        It is the RO’s duty to report any players that no longer require fly.”

This policy is currently being reviewed under the advisement of the Administration.

‹ Current Team Roster ›

‹ Monthly Statistics ›

The GM team received a total of 3020 modreqs in November.

Congratulations and thank you to: Caranthir_, Xalid, and PunifiedZombie for taking the most tickets in that respective order!

The monthly quota for the GM-Team is 3%, for this month that meant an individual GM had to complete a total of 90 tickets. Below you can view the general statistics for all members of the team. Keep in mind some new GMs were on hiatus, added to the team late in the month, some stepped down, or were removed.

In addition to completed tickets, there were also numerous GM Point Claim forums in regard to:

Warclaims, raids, bans, ban-appeals and extensive modreqs. You can view these statistics below: (Note, submissions are voluntary and only count up to 100 points for moderators so this data is not fully accurate. In the case of this month, there were 27 instances where GMs had filled out this form.

‹ Roster Changes ›

BronCloch promoted to GM Trainer

Keening promoted to full GM

PunifiedZombie promoted to full GM

Xalid promoted to full GM

Elrith promoted to full GM

Caranthir_ promoted to full GM

LeoRabbit99 promoted to full GM

Burnsy__ accepted as GM Trial

Murlocs accepted as GM Trial

Deer__ accepted as GM Trial

Endershadow292 accepted as GM Trial

ScreamingDingo accepted as GM Trial

Nectorist accepted as GM Trial

Cruzazul8 accepted as GM Trial

3andD accepted as GM Trial

Aythyinae accepted as GM Trial

Youngie5500 stepped down as GM

Karimir stepped down as GM

Yagami stepped down as GM

Wrynn removed from GM Team

Kanadensare removed from GM Team

DiscoLiquid removed from GM Team

‹ Special Thanks ›

To the community through their continued support

To Fireheart for assistance in duties and administrative support

To Telanir for advisement

To Frott for overseeing warclaims

-------------------------------

And a very special thanks to Tarren who went above and beyond her duties as a manager this month to better serve the community and the GM Team. Assisting in warclaims, processing interviews, and training new GMs.

Hi, Folks as always it’s Seventh here. Today I’m outlining how the auction process will occur and important dates during the two-week process we’re about to undergo.

Let me first make something absolutely crystal clear

THIS IS NOT THE ONLY CHANCE TO GET LAND.

Don’t fret if your group isn’t one of the groups selected for the first land auction. Groups who meet activity after this point will be able to select from the remaining areas of land. Up until 2 weeks from the launch of 7.0.

The First week (November 16th to November 23rd) will be focused on showing what’s available and ensuring nations/groups who will be participating in the initial land auction have all their questions answered.

During this time all plots available for bidding will have extensive photo albums created (Down below, Parties participating can request photos as needed)

We will also ask each member participating to ensure they have their minas gathered this time will also be used for general question and answering for groups involved.

The goal of this week is to ensure all participating members are fully informed and know which areas they’re interested in.

The Second Week (24th - 30th) will be when the actual bidding process will take place. This will occur in the Nation Leader Discord. Where each tile will have a channel in which bids can be placed in 500 mina minimum increments. Bidding will close on either the 30th or in a hotly contested bid it will close 12 hours after the last bid anytime after the 30th.

As a reminder of, course getting land now is NOT a golden ticket to 7.0 you are expected to maintain activity until launch. For groups who did not make it into the land auction at current fret not, there is still time to receive land if you meet the activity requirements.

After reviewing the data collected through the activity plugin we set the bar for Nation Status server activity. Groups who met this are:

Renatus

Sutica

Belvits

Haense

(PS the order means nothing here)

The following groups are either to close for us to cut outright or fall under strange circumstances and will be invited to participate in the first week and will be rechecked before bidding starts to see if they are fully confirmed.

Curon

Dominion

Nordengrad

Fenn

Agnarum

Arberrang

(PS the order means nothing here)

If you are one of these groups leaders reach out to me so I can get something set up for you. My discord is Seventh#9260.

Plots that are available

NP1
https://imgur.com/a/PRCdBLc

NP2
https://imgur.com/a/EAOqkgm

NP3
https://imgur.com/a/zGM1628

NP4
https://imgur.com/a/4B8PbLy

NP5
https://imgur.com/a/mBcWiLp

NP6
https://imgur.com/a/IUAkbvd

NP7
https://imgur.com/a/WUnjoNC

NP8
https://imgur.com/a/GSQUqyM

NP9
https://imgur.com/a/s3phicZ

NP10
https://imgur.com/a/zjEgjUM

Map of all Plot Locations

https://imgur.com/a/JDIoL1R

Hi, folk’s today the wd team wants to hear from yall about where you’d like to see the future of land allocation go. With our recent activity collection plugin being implemented It’s now quite viable for a charter system as in the past. But we also see the value in open-ended free build which is why 7.0 is currently positioned to accommodate either system or some combination of both. This is where we want your thoughts on the matter we have a few ideas ourselves and I’ll outline them below but feel free to propose novel solutions as well!

First some ground rules,

All land in the CT ring is closed to building

A limited and dispersed amount of land is available in the Civil Ring,

Finally most land in the wild ring is open but there are more restricted areas to protect some builds

The simple break down of the options

1, All available land is set up for free build, Similar to Atlas

2, All land is a chartered region where a group applies for a certain sized area and with signatures is granted it. Then they are subject to meeting activity requirements or risk losing it.

3, A combination of both, All land in the Civil ring must be chartered while everything in the wilds is open for all. This system certainly has the most flexibility and would let us enjoy some of the benefits of both systems. The biggest drawback would be the fact two systems is of course more complex for implementation.

We do not yet have anything to show yet, therefore this announcement is brief and somewhat uninteresting. You will notice significant change in the dynamics and structure of my staff this year. My administration is executing a somewhat ambitious plan that may take several months to accomplish. Ultimately, at the very bottom of this is a desire to better serve your needs and the needs of this unique experience.

Please bear with us while we go through an awkward period of transition. We may appear a bit clumsy and uncoordinated at first but I promise that there are solid odds that we will see improvement.  I believe we are in a good position to combat stagnancy and bureaucracy, and to bring our server back to the roots in the ways that matter.

I will have an update for you once we are nearly done with the changes. And, initially, I refused to write this post as I believe we’ve done enough yapping over doing—and 2019 is a good time to make a practical difference. But, you do deserve some warning before the transitions are in full effect.

I can briefly address some concerns,

Q: Why are you bringing back Global Moderators?
A: In short, we are not. The longer explanation is more nuanced. We recognize the problems that befell the previous GM team and the overwhelming power-creep associated with it. Included in our upcoming plans are not simple merges of people and permissions. We are redistributing responsibilities between our teams on a full-scale. A total re-write of our staff with our core values in mind. The Moderation team may inherit some tasks of the previous team, but it is not a simple mashup of the FM & GM teams.

Q: Are all FM’s and GM’s being grandfathered into the Mod team?
A: No. I require my team to vet every member individually. Additionally, we consider the comments and suggestions of our staff and community for the selections and may make adjustments as necessary.
 

Q: What happens once they are offered a position?
A: They enter a period of mandatory training. We want to train our Mods on the game server, the forums, and our Discord. Of course, this will require some time.

Q: What’s next?
A: Like I say, Mod team is only a narrow slice of the big picture. Next we roll out the rest of our plan and prepare further communication on the matter. Stay involved, stay passionate, and get ready for updates!

Thank you for your patience and understanding,

Telanir.

GM Update Log - December 2018

‹ Introduction ›

Hi nerds, first thing’s first, there will be some big changes to moderation in the upcoming weeks and you all will be updated as soon as they happen. A lot of internal changes have been made to the current Game Team and many more to come in preparation for 7.0.

‹ New Changes ›

Game Team Policies are now available to be read here.

Rule Amendments approved by Administration thanks to feedback posts

Quote

Changed - RP Combat Rules 7.1 " If someone runs mechanically from sufficient roleplay, they may be downed. The runner may not fight back."

has been replaced with

“You may not escape an encounter in which both parties have interacted with each other without sufficient roleplay to justify your escape. If a player runs their opponent may down them. The runner may not fight back”

Quote

 

Added - Combat Rules 6.1 added "If the person ignores the roleplay and continues moving they can be downed, revived and the RP resumed, if they run once more they may be executed."

 

 

Permanent Freebuild Rules are being worked on by Tarren (Bless)

An Activity Broadcast Guide has been created by Lumiin

If you do not want your settlement to appear on Activity Broadcasts simply reply to this post and we will add you to be removed from the broadcast.

War Rules Overhaul have slightly stalled due to holiday season but are expected to return to normal after this weekend.

Coup Rules are in the early stages of being drafted.

Warclaims will be accepted again on January 7^th.

Immediately following this post, a community review will be initiated for charters. These are simple and easy to understand.

‹ Current Team Roster ›

‹ Monthly Statistics ›

The GM team received a total of 3355 modreqs in December.

Congratulations and thank you to: Nectorist, ScreamingDingo and Dewper for taking the most tickets in that respective order!

The monthly quota for the GM-Team is 3%, for this month that meant an individual GM had to complete a total of 100 tickets. However, since this was the holiday season no GMs were expected to exceed quota, and this will not be held against them. Below you can view the general statistics for all members of the team. Keep in mind some new GMs were on hiatus, added to the team late in the month, some stepped down, or were removed.

In addition to completed tickets, there were also numerous GM Point Claim forums in regard to:

Warclaims, raids, bans, ban-appeals and extensive modreqs. You can view these statistics below: (Note, submissions are voluntary and only count up to 100 points for moderators so this data is not fully accurate. In the case of this month, there were 12 instances where GMs had filled out this form.

-------------------------------

And a big congratulations to TarreBear for her accomplishments during her tenure to the Game Team, she has now been demoted to Administrator and I feel she will do many great things in the future.

AT MONTHLY UPDATE LOG- DECEMBER 2018

Introduction

Hello all! I hope everyone has had a wonderful Christmas and New Years. I’m here to update you all on the progress and state of the Application Team as we stand now, and the future plans to establish a solid team and good foundation going into 7.0

During the month of December, I was given the position of Application Team Director upon the departure of Dromui. I have lots of plans to take the team forward, and look forward to sharing some great projects and work that we’ve been up to lately. Though we’ve had a bit of a rocky month in general, things have all been sorted to ensure a smooth new year for the AT. We gained and lost a few members, but as of now I believe the team is in the perfect position going forward. However still the AT application page is closely looked at, so should you wish to join the team then go ahead and post an application :)

Application Team Roster

Monthly Application Data

This month we saw 226 new applications to LOTC.

From the removal of guest applications a while back, we’ve seen a massive increase in the proportion of accepted applications compared to denied ones. Pending-Accepted applications covered 39.4% of all applications in December, followed closely behind by Accepted applications with 35.4%, Pending-Denied with 18.6% and Denied with 6.6%. Overall, 25.2% of apps were denied, whilst 74.8% were accepted- equating to roughly ¾ of applications being successfully accepted.

65.7% of accepted players were from an American timezone, which is actually a decrease of around 6% from last month. December saw an increase of European accepted applications, with 10% more than last month, sitting at a comfortable 31.3%. Oceanic still remains in the most minority, seeing a decrease from 6.5% in November to 3% in December.

Now, onto the more interesting stuff.

Humans were once again this month the most popularly applied race, taking over half (52.1%) of all applications, however humans were actually down 4% than last month. Elves followed behind with 32.7%, an increase of 4% compared to last month. Dwarves held 5.3% (a decrease of 2%), Orcs with 1.7% (Remaining the same as last month), and halflings also with 1.7% (A decrease of 1.6%).

Monthly Team Data

Going through a difficult period, the AT team remained fairly good in response times, and we’ve seen a great increase in applications handled by each member- especially in our newbies. Keep in mind with this data that some members have been added to the team, are on hiatus, or unable to make quota due to other reasons.

Once again I’d like to congratulate @MamaBearJade on her hard work! Earning her Queen of Quota for the second month running!

Member Alterations

+Ivory promoted to AT Director+

+Gusano promoted to AT Trainer+

+Mamabearjade promoted to AT Trainer+

+Nectorist promoted to AT Trainer+

+Aquaquean accepted to the AT+

+Cornivore accepted to the AT+

-Gaia_-

-Dromui-

A Year in Review

So seeing as it’s the new year, I’d like to take a look back on the team throughout 2018. I myself have been on the AT for over six months now, and it’s overall been a full year of ups and downs, changes, and lots and lots of applications.

This year we handled 4045 applications as a team, and welcomed 2,457 new accounts onto the server. This is an astounding amount! Overall we’ve seen 60.8% of all apps accepted this year, compared to 39.2% denied.

I’ll leave in all the numbers for races and sub-races here:

Projects of 2018

In 2018 we’ve seen numerous projects take off, and overall lots of work has been put into both independent and group ventures surrounding new player help, retention and data collecting. Some of these include:

-A new application format

-A new alt application format

-The New Player Discord

-Pots and Pandits

-Various guides and documents aimed to help new players

-The LOTC Skin Archive

-The Tailors Guild

-Cloud Temple Monks

-Cloud Temple Weekly

-New Player Village

-AT Tickets

And probably many others, to be honest.

A couple of these will be continuing into 2019, as well as some being revived. Stay tuned to see more information coming out regarding these- as the team is heavily immersed into new personal projects as part of the AT. We’re especially looking into new ways of collecting feedback and data, reviewing the team as a whole, and delving into ideas from the team and wider community. I highly encourage members of the community to come forward if they have any ideas themselves, and a suggestions/feedback thread will be posted soon.

Thank You

This momentous amount of applications and project work could not have been done without a boatload of people who have contributed across 2018.

I’d like to thank past and present members of the AT this year:

@Vaynth

@Sky

@Imi

@Quavinir_Twiceborn

@MrMineLoveDude

@Farryn

@Ixli

@Cordial

@_Jandy_

@Elennanore

@Riftblade

@Jenny_Bobbs

@Gaia_

@Torky

@BritBritt

@PiousChorale_

@Lumiin

@MickMeist

@Dromui

@Aelsioln

@Cornivore

@Fid

@EtherealPvP

@ImCookiie

@MyLittleUnicorn

@Boruto

@BronCloch

@Pun

@MadYeAd

@Jollybee

@Demigryph

@Kony2020

@_Hexe_

@Zombiefide

@Keefy

@sophiaa

@Top_Goon

@ZachoSnacko

@LaffenOutLoud

@Gilded

@Gusano

@Jondead

@Nectorist

@StarGazzer

@MamaBearJade

@Aquaquean

and also my very good friend @Lockezi

Thank you for a wonderful year AT. Here’s to another one, hopefully seeing lots of progress going into 2019 and 7.0.

Just mentioning that today begins the Holiday discount season! Please visit the announcements above for more Krugsmas cheer and once you’re done—visit the LotC store for a whopping 20% discount!

Check out our VIP perks and Crown packages here: https://www.lordofthecraft.net/store/

Visit our store here: http://store.lordofthecraft.net

And enter the coupon code: KrugsmasIsComingToTown at checkout for 20% off.

Discount season ends at the start of the new year!

Cheers,

Telanir.

I’m restarting the server. When it boots back up, feel free to use the command /krugsmas . It will help you to share with your fellow roleplayers a little bit of that Christmas joy.

No pay-to-win plugin this time, worry not ? However, it was written in about 40 minutes so it probably is buggy to all hell. If you find any bugs, don’t be a Grinch! Report them instead of abusing them to your heart’s content. It can be your Christmas present to us ?

Merry Christmas from the Dev Team!

In support of his fight I’ve made a GoFundMe to help cover any expenses for things that he might need while he’s in the hospital to make his hard times as easy as we possibly can. Any money that you’re willing to toss his way would be greatly appreciated and even if you don’t have any money to donate please share the link for the Campaign to reach as many people as possible.

https://www.gofundme.com/trying-to-raise-money-for-a-friend-with-leukemia

Hello Friends! It’s time again for another community meeting. If you have any questions that you would like answered please comment them down below. A representative from every staff team will be there to answer your questions respectively. We will not be accepting meme questions and they will be skipped over. The time and date for this months meeting will be as follows:

Date: December 29th, 2018

Time: 2:30pm EST | 11:30pm PST | 7:30pm GMT |

Dec 30th 6:30am Australia

(Sorry my aussie peeps!)

Location: LoTC Discord https://discord.gg/YpJmX7U

Your View - CBs, Wargoals, and War Classifications

‹ Introduction ›

Hi everyone, we’ve drafted a new section for the proposed War Rules rewrite. We have decided to use this “Your View” to request feedback from the community as a whole. In the previous week we’ve contacted Nation Leaders and those in the land auction since they represent the leadership of large portions of players. This was to best represent and gauge how the public reception to this proposed changes would be. We’ve done a lot of changes since that time, adding, removing, and editing the below areas as evidenced here. We used their feedback to best represent what their player bases may desire or dislike. Now it is time to open this discussion to the community as a whole.

This section was drafted upon reviewing "Your Views" such as the ones found here and here. Since the highest voted item was Stellaris we gathered nearly everything from here. Since this is another game's warfare system being brought onto a roleplay Minecraft server, we had to reword the CBs and Wargoals without completely changing them. While doing this, we wanted to include views outside of the staff and nation leaders, so we are asking for the community’s assistance to provide feedback which we may not have thought of.

‹ Changes ›

This section is not final, does not encompass war specific rules, or war procedures thus far, this is only CBs, Wargoals, and War Classifications. This is subject to change and will not be live until 7.0

The biggest change to this system is the introduction of War Points -- With the War rework, we decided to go in a different direction than what has been the norm on LotC, which is the Casus Belli system. We are still going to be using the Casus Belli system, but it relies on a few other factors to be properly executed; Wargoals and War Points. To put it simply, a Casus Belli no longer gives you a specific type of Warclaim, instead, for every Casus Belli that is earned you will gain a certain number of ‘War Points’. These War Points can then be used to purchase a Wargoal, which is the primary way of determining the outcome of a war. The reason why we decided to go with the use of Wargoals and War Points was to better facilitate a balanced War System with a fair share of dynamic RP potential - War Points rewarded from CBs and costs of Wargoals are subject to change. The following is an example of how our system works.

1. Nation X has two Rivalry Casus Belli, one Attack on Leadership Casus Belli, and two Subjugation Casus Belli against Nation Y. Nation Y conducting all of these actions against Nation X, thus giving Nation X these Casus Belli.
2. Counting up the Casus Bellis and checking how many War Points each one rewards, Nation X now has 35 War Points against Nation Y.
3. Nation X can purchase Wargoals with these War Points, however, only if they have the necessary amount. They are 5 War Points off from the Vassalize Wargoal, but they can purchase the Plunder Wargoal, which is 30 War Points.
4. Now, Nation X will Warclaim Nation Y with the Wargoal to Plunder Nation Y.  A Wargoal is the desired end result Nation X wants from the Warclaim, their desire is to Plunder Nation Y, and this is all that can be done with that Wargoal.

This section will have covered most questions regarding the changes, now to move onto the bread and butter of the rewrite so far.
 

CBs, Wargoals, and War Classifications

Key: = GM Concern or area to focus on edit/ Assistance Requested

Casus Bellis

Expiry Time: 60 Days
 

• Subjugation: Allows for Nation X to demand a tile, area, or resources of Nation Y. If this demand is refused, it allows for the demanding Nation to gain a subjugation CB. Against the opposing Nation Y.
  • This does not include the capital.
  • Resources are further defined as Materials, Minas, etc, essentially a Tribute.
    • The amount demanded must be within reason, if a dispute arises a verdict by the Game Moderation Team will be made.
  • Rewards 5 War Points (Can only be used twice per month).
     
• Border Friction: If Nation X and Nation Y share a border, border conflicts may occur.

  THIS WILL ONLY BE IN PLACE AFTER 30 DAYS OF MAP START

  • A Nation may only stack the ‘Border Friction’ CB twice.
    • The Attacking Nation will only get 5 War Points from every Border Conflict, while the Defending Nation will gain 10 War Points.
  • Example: If Nation X attacks Nation Y two times, Nation X will get 10 War Points and Nation Y will get 20 War Points. However, if Nation Y then goes on the assault and attacks Nation X two times, Nation Y will gain 10 War Points and Nation X will gain 20 War Points. In the end they will both have 30 War Points on both sides in total.
     
• Subjugated: If Nation Y is subjugated by Nation X in any context, Vassal, Tributary, etc, they earn the ‘Subjugated’ CB.
  • Rewards Independence as a Wargoal.
     
• Claims: A previously owned tile that is currently in possession of Nation Y, that once belonged to Nation X.
  • This CB would have no expiry date.
  • Claims must be documented or shown on the forums via a forum post.
    • This includes but is not limited to claims to land, marriages, heirs to thrones, landed titles, etc.
    • Alternatively, if a close relative of a Nation Leader wishes to declare their intent for the throne then they may get claimant CB due to a blood claim.
  • This claim passes down family members.
  • This CB also counts for an heir being usurped or someone having their titles stolen.
  • Rewards 15 - 30 War Points depending on the size of the claim.
     
• Stolen Heritage - If Nation Y has a Relic or an item of grand importance held by Nation X, that originally belonged to Nation Y, then Nation Y earns the ‘Stolen Heritage’ CB.
  • Further defining what a ‘Relic’ or ‘item of grand importance’ is. These items that are extremely valued by a Nation, for example, the Hammer of Urguan, Sword of Horen, the Ashwood Tree, Crown of Urguan, etc. A verdict may be given by the Game Moderation Team if there are disputes over the value of an item.
    • Any Relic or item of grand importance should be GM/LT Signed or GM/LT Approved via a sign.
  • Example: Nation X sponsored a group to steal Nation Y's item.
    • This includes obtaining it through any illegitimate means or through the auction house.
  • If a person resides in Nation X with the item, and Nation Y refuses to help retrieve the item, this CB can be granted against Nation Y.
  • Once a warclaim post is made with this CB, the relic cannot be moved from its location.
    • If need be, GMs will have a specially locked chests to prevent the movement of the item.
  • Rewards 25 War Points.
     
• Attack on Leadership - If the Leadership of Nation Y is attacked by Nation X, and they have reason to believe this was organized by Nation X, they earn the ‘Assault on Leadership’ CB.
  • If the PRO or an immediate relative of the PRO is attacked, War Points awarded are doubled.
  • Leadership is defined as the PRO, RO, military leadership, or anyone designated as such on a forum post.
  • Rewards 15 War Points.

• Rivalry - If Nation Y is consistently raided or has claims made against them by Nation X, Nation Y earns the ‘Rivalry’ CB.
  • This is further defined as Nation X conducting organized raids consistently against Nation Y, or making aggressive claims against them. (Maybe more?)
  • Claims are defined as official documents by the leadership of a nation, such as denouncements, threats to leadership or the general welfare of the state.
    • Denouncements are further defined as declaring or proclaiming negative connotations, such as declaring heirs to a house or throne illegitimate or slandering political officials/leadership. This is heavily subjective and will require a verdict from the Game Moderation Team.
  • Rewards 5 War Points Per Claim.
  • Rewards 5 War Points Per Raid.
     
• Aiding an Enemy - Nation X believes there is probable cause that Nation Y is offering assistance to their enemies through materials, weapons, manpower, military assistance, or anything that will benefit them.
  • This includes support for coup d'etats through items mentioned above.
  • Rewards 15 War Points.
    • If coup’s are involved, the points double to 30 War Points Awarded.

• Rebellion - If Nation X declares independence from Nation Y, Nation Y earns the ‘Rebellion’ CB against Nation X.
  • Rewards 40 War Points.
    • Alternatively either the Conquer, or Vassalize Wargoal can be rewarded.
       

Wargoals - This is the objective behind the reasoning for the war, a Nation may only act within their allowed wargoal(s) for any actions taken on a tile. To select a Wargoal you must have a sufficient amount of War Points to use that Wargoal in the Warclaim.
 

• Conquer – Any tiles with claims to Nation X are rewarded to the victor. Any tiles without claims once belonging to Nation Y are returned to Nation Y. (Offensive War)
  • The new PRO of Nation X must notify GM Management if they wish to raze and/or salt any settlement within a conquered tile.
    • When a Warclaim is conducted within a tile, either a siege or field battle, whoever wins the battle wins the tile. Not defending a tile against a Warclaim still results in losing the tile.
  • Costs 50 War Points
     
• Vassalize - Defeated Nation Y may be vassalized by Nation X. Any treaties Nation Y had signed or alliances they were apart of, will be voided without consequence. (Offensive War)
  • The conquered nation will be required to provide assistance to their overlord through reasonable monetary payments, material payments, manpower for their armies, or military assistance as requested.
    • This can only be requested by Nation X every 2 weeks.
    • If refused by Nation Y, a conquer Wargoal is automatically granted to Nation X.
    • The conquering nation will be required to provide room for the vassal to function as an RP hub
    • GM oversight may be requested for what a reasonable amount is.
  • Region Owners will not change with this Wargoal.
  • Costs 40 War Points

• Change in Government Type - Nation X forcefully changes the government type of Nation Y. (Offensive War)
  • For example, you could force them to switch from Absolute Monarch to a Republic form of Government, or the other way around.

This is will be forced to last x amount of time?

• How will this be enforced?
   
• Plunder - Nation Y can plunder Nation X for 70% of their treasury and minerals. This will cause severe damage to the Nation and its treasury (must leave behind 30%) and Nation storage may be fully looted as well as any chests in the region. (Offensive War)
  • Costs 30 War Points
     
• Stop Atrocities - Nation Y sees an unjust war, and may step in, in an attempt to stop a war perpetrated by Nation X. If successful, Nation X's ruler will be executed. (Justified War)
  • This can only be applied to offensive wars.
  • A CB will be granted to Nation X against Nation Y.
  • Costs 30 War Points

• Forced Conversion - If Nation X loses the war against Nation Y, Nation X’s state religion would be that of Nation Y. (Offensive War)
  • This would be enforced through a roleplay post on the forums that Nation X’s state religion is now that of Nation Y’s.
  • This will remain for x amount of time.
  • Costs 30 War Points
     
• Leadership Capture - Nation Y will capture the NL of Nation X, additional leadership captures and people who are ROs will require a /roll 20, 16 and higher is a capture. (Offensive War)
  • Costs 25 War Points
  • The NL can only be captured if they attended the Warclaim, ROs and Leadership can only be captured if they attended the Warclaim.
    • Nation leader suggestion: regardless of attendance a player will /roll 20 on 1-10 a Coma will occur, on 11-20 Capture will occur. During a coma the leader is not captured but they are incapacitated for X amount of time and will be unplayable. During the capture period, anything may occur. Time being captured for is subject to change due to server rule constraints, war rules could override this.  

• Holy Retribution - Nation Y will capture the head religious figure or highly regarded religious figure(s) of Nation X. This is further defined as Capturing the head most religious figure of the Nation. (Offensive War)
  • Costs 25 War Points

• Retribution - The reclamation of one’s original land. No additional land can be acquired during this time. (Justified War)
  • Costs 20 War Points
  • This grants 15 Warpoints to the Nation you attack.
     
• Trade War - Nation X has a surplus or a deficit of a material, Nation Y may wage war against Nation X to force Nation X to lower or raise prices. (Justified War)
  • Costs 20 War Points
  • Nation Y may force all market stalls in Nation X to raise/lower prices up to 50%.
  • Failure to comply within 72hr will cause the stall or market to be evicted.
     
• Independence - A vassal of Nation Y may openly rebel to fight for independence. All nation Y must do is reclaim at least one tile for victory. They must hold this tile for at least 30 days or remain victorious from two sieges. (Justified War)
  • This may only be applied after 30 days of being a vassal.
  • Requires the “Subjugated” CB.
  • Period of 14 days, for Nation Y to act on this. Otherwise the nation earns their independence.
     

War Classifications

• Justified Wars - Nation X has given a reason for a CB to Nation Y, Nation Y can utilize this CB to wage a war for a flat fee of 15,000 minas.
  • GMs will set up camps for attackers, attackers will submit a battle plan in war discord of each tile they will pass through, submit a picture through Dynamic Map (Dynamap) of where they want their camps.
    • Defenders have the ability to defend border tiles for free with a war camp, to move beyond a border tile, defenders will have to pay 50% of attackers cost, 7,500 minas. If they advance beyond their border tile, they will be provided a war camp by the GMs.
  • Field battles will be fought at the battle plan war camp as presented by the attackers if met with resistance from defenders at that tile. If the defending Nation wins two field battles in a total, it is considered a Defender Victory, ending the War.
  • Sieges will take place at the defending nation’s capital as indicated by the battle plan, if defenders win two sieges in total, it is considered a Defender Victory, ending the War.
     
• Offensive Wars - Attackers will have a flat fee of 30,000 minas for each Warclaim. If more than one Offensive Wars occurs within 30 days a 75% increase in the cost per occurrence will occur as a warmongering penalty.
  • GMs will set up camps for attackers, attackers will submit a battle plan in war discord of each tile they will pass through, and submit a picture through Dynamic Map (Dynamap) of where they want their war camps in each tile as they advance.
    • Defenders have the ability to defend border tiles for free, to move beyond a border tile, defenders will have to pay 50% of attackers cost, 15,000 minas. If they advance beyond their border tile, they will also be provided a camp by the GMs.
  • Field battles will be fought at the battle plan war camp as presented by the attackers if met with resistance from defenders at that tile. If the defending Nation wins two field battles in a total, it is considered a Defender Victory, ending the War.
  • Sieges will take place at the defending nation’s capital as indicated by the battle plan, if defenders win two sieges in total, it is considered a Defender Victory, ending the War.

Hey everybody, this is just a little contest I came up with earlier and thought would be fun. It's pretty simple:

What are your predictions and guesses for events surrounding the huge ice wall at the map's southern edge?

Whoever guesses the closest thing (this will be decided by ET Management when the time comes) will be rewarded with a unique, signed lore item relating to the wall. Just leave whatever you think might happen, and feel free to leave some suggestions too. Bear in mind it won't be for another good while until events about the wall go down, so results won't be released for a few weeks if not months.

hint: it will involve recapturing Constantinople 

xoxo

Around this time last year, we made the transition from Axios to Atlas and to commemorate that and to make it look like I’m doing something, here’s a contest!!1!!!!!1!

Following on with the ideals of our previous contest in that we’re trying to make these more relevant to the LotC universe, the theme of this contest is locations in Atlas. You can interpret that in aaaaany way you like, so like as your entry is even remotely related to any particular location on Atlas. I’ve included a full list of all Atlas’ regions below, but you can be much more specific in the location you chose (so long as you title it in your entry).

THE RULES

• To enter, post on this thread with either your art or writing (no word limit)
• State clearly the region/place your entry is based off in the title or at the start (full list of regions below)
• All entries must be original
• Writing and art entries will be judged as separate categories with 1^st. 2^nd, and 3^rd place prizes available for both categories
• You're free to enter both categories
• All entries must be submitted by midnight EST on Sunday the 13^th of January
• The location only has to be a basic inspiration for your entry

LIST OF MAIN ATLAS REGIONS (Nation Tiles & Event Regions)

• The Springhills
• The Southdowns
• The Sleetfells
• The Swaymoors
• Huckery Highlands
• The Wonkawoods
• The Bolemounds
• The Frozenpines
• The Loftywoods
• Shrieking Drake Island
• The Chalk Alps
• The Timberwoods
• The Yatl Wasteland
• The Mixed Knolls

LIST OF LESSER-KNOWN ATLAS TILES

• The Twin Highlands
• The Pridelands
• The Barrowdowns
• Eastbight
• Tide Isle
• The Lobster Isles
• The Gules Mountains
• The Lochmoors
• Hiisht Isle
• Coral Peak
• The Serpentwoods
• The Jade Peaks
• The Wilderlands

If you know a good spot but don’t know it’s name, all you have to do is head over there and type /rg info to find out. Remember that the location only has to be basic inspiration for your entry -- you could write about a whole fight scene that has no real relevance to the region other than that it occurred there, for example.

PRIZES

1. 5,000 Mina | Creative Wizard Tag | A Parrot | A signed item related to the location of your entry
2. 3,000 Mina | A Parrot | A signed item related to the location of your entry
3. 2,000 Mina | A signed item related to the location of your entry

Unlike last time it’s a little bit unfeasible to include a screenshot of every prize items, but I’ll post a few below to give you an idea:

So that’s just a flavour, bearing in mind that each region has its own item, and some of them might be subject to change depending on lore reasons.

A quick question, though – is there anyone out there that fancies themselves a bit of composer? It was suggested to me that it might be worthwhile opening up a music category in future competitions, so if your skills are more in that department, post here to let me know how many people could compete in that category.

While this is also the anniversary of LotC 6.0, it’s also nearly been a full year since I became ET Director (yikes). In light of that, December’s actually going to be my last month as Director before I hand it off to someone who can do a better job after burnout’s gotten the better of me since college started back up (I’ll remain on the ET, just not as bossman).

With that said, best of luck with your entries, looking forward to seeing them.

Hello everyone,

Unfortunately, banned players finding new and creative methods to alt has consistently drained our Moderation Staff. Over the years, their methods have become increasingly impressive and irritating. As such, we’ve explored various solutions to this problem and ultimately, we’re ready to try something new.

One month from today, we will limit the use of VPN’s only to accounts with a special whitelist.

We recognize one drawback of this approach. People in countries with restricted freedom may have difficulty playing on LotC. If you cannot access LotC without the use of a VPN, please apply for your account to have this special whitelist.

I need a VPN to access LotC. Will I be unable to play until I whitelist?

We figure that a 30-day transition period should be enough for most of us. Please fill out the app to request a whitelist and we will contact you shortly.

Take care everyone,

Telanir.
 

A Charter is defined as regioned parcel of land granted to an individual who completes the requirements for the selected tier of charter.

The Information & Process for gaining a Charter

Application Process:

1) Submit a Charter Application for the land you desire.

2) Begin the two week wait. Use this time to collect signatures and submit minas.

  3) Finally, a staff member claims, evaluates, and processes your application.

        a) When Accepted you enter the probation period.

        b) When Denied, the charter is archived. You may retry.

Charter Application:

The Charter of [name of land]

Submitted by [owner’s roleplay name]  « [owner’s minecraft name] »

• Located at coordinates (X, Y, Z)
• Tier level of [#]

We wish to upgrade our charter. (NO: remove this, YES: provide link to charter)

    OR

We wish to relocate our charter. (NO: remove this, YES: provide link to charter)

Charter Probation

Excellent, your charter is accepted! We now flag your region and monitor it for two months and verify you meet the criteria for activity. If you succeed, we remove your probation status. Though, if you fail, we must delete your region.

Where can I place my Charter?

Got a place you’re interested in? Compare it to the conditions below.

• No other Charter already claimed that spot.
• You’re at least 125 blocks away from any other Charter.
• You’re not inside the Cloud Temple Ring.
• You’re not in a tile owned by a nation or in contested territory.
• You are not in the Freebuild Wilds.
• You do not own any other land.

* If you are relocating, then you may only do so if you are not at war.

* Keep in mind when you choose your location, your Charter can only be dependent on Nations adjacent to your tile.

I want to upgrade or relocate my Charter.

First of all, your Charter must pass the probation period. Then, choose a location that is the same or smaller tier and be ready to pay half the price of that land.

If you wish to upgrade—you must gather all the signatures. However, you only pay the difference for the cost in minas. Your Charter will re-enter the probationary period for two months. If you fail your land will only revert to the original size—however, you will need to pass another two-month probation to keep the land altogether.

Can I use the land of a former Charter that went inactive?

Absolutely. In fact, you can purchase or relocate to abandoned land at a 35% discount!

We would like to declare dependency on a Nation.

You may apply at any time for Dependant status—even during probation.

We would like to ascend to Nation status.

You must reach Nation-level activity. Then, you may apply for Nation status and enter a two month probationary period. You must maintain Nation-level activity for the entire two months.

Charter Tiers

Tier 1 - Hamlet 50 x 50 block region

Seven signatures

Ten-thousand minas

Tier 2 - Village 100x 100 block region

Fifteen signatures

Forty-thousand minas

Tier 3 - City 150x150 block region

Thirty signatures

Ninety-thousand minas

The Application Team is currently working on new and innovative ways to integrate and aid new players that come to our server. We have a few projects that are being worked on, settlement guides, application guides, finding and creating RP opportunities, etc..

But we want to hear feedback from you, the community. I believe the community has a very core role in the integration of new players, and I think it’s very important that we listen to you about such.

Please put any feedback you can think of. It can be ways we can improve, things you believe we’re doing wrong, and generally just what you think are ideas to improve new player integration.

I’ll try to make a follow-up thread later on, after looking into the feedback.

There will be an addition to the Mechanics-combat Rules section of Server rules. The addition will be §6.9 and state: “MyPets used in Mechanics-combat (PvP) is not allowed.” This change will be while we assess reports received regarding MyPets and some issues relating to them in combat, but due to the current focus of the development team, being 1.13, we do not have the time currently to allocate into looking at these specific complaints for solutions or changes. That is all for now!

-Fire

Seems someone has forgotten to post this perhaps it scared them off but until next Saturday we have a 15% discount running on the store for Halloween.

Check out our VIP perks and Crown packages here: https://www.lordofthecraft.net/store/

Visit our store here: http://store.lordofthecraft.net

And enter coupon code: 2spooky4tythus at checkout for 15% off

Regards,

Tythus

Comprehensive rework covering new options for CBs, Warzones, Warclaims proper and Declaration formats

Contents

1.Preface

2.CB options crafted according to suggestions and polling data

3.Suggestions for Warclaim and Warzone integration

4.New War declaration format

Preface

THE INFORMATION INCLUDED HEREIN IS A BRIEF SUMMARY OUTLINING OPTIONS BEING GIVEN TO PLAYERS. THAT THEY MAY VOTE ON THE CHOICES THEY LIKE BEST AND TAILOR THE WAR SYSTEM TO THEIR OWN IDEALS. OPTIONS ARE BASED UPON YOUR VIEW POLLS.

CB Options

A.Keep CBs as they Are, CBs remain as they are now heavily regulated

B.Complete Deregulation, Power to the Players

Under this format CBs will be entirely determined by RP factors and RP leaders with no restrictions whatsoever imposed by staff.

C.Stellaris System, Modest regulation, restrictions upon baseless warfare. It goes without saying that sufficient rp must be provided for any of these CBs. One cannot simply Conquest someone if they lack an rp claim. CBs that are to be included are below for players to discuss and critique.

Conquest. The Aggressing party goes to war with the intention of conquering the victim’s holds. This claim can be pressed against a single keep or against an entire realm depending on the breadth of the involved rp.

Subjugate. Aggressing party goes to war with the intention of subjugating the victimized party. Intending to force them into vassal or tributary status.

Humiliate. Aggressing party goes to war with the intention of humiliating the victimized party before other actors and their own people. Generally this would cover things such as revenge and long term grudges.

Impose Ideology. Aggressing party goes to war with the intention of opposing their ideology upon the victimized party. Generally this would cover faith but can also cover economic or political ideologies.

Independence. Aggressing party goes to war with the intention of securing independence and self determination from its overlord.

Plunder. Aggressing party goes to war with the intention of securing loot, wealth and slaves or to economically weaken an enemies settlement.

Warclaim System Options

A. Old System. System remains as it is, nothing changes at all. Field Battle > Siege > Field Battle etc. Sieges take place entirely in the warclaim.

B. Integrated Warzones. System integrates warzones and warclaims. In this system warzones serve as a preface to field battles and sieges. Before field battles a warzone will be setup on the battlefield between the two conflicting parties. The victorious party (determined by having the majority share of capture point time) will be allowed to choose their deployment first, taking the choices ground for themselves. They also have the option for multiple deployments to simulate flanks and such. The choice of deployments being to reflect the victorious party having rply proven themselves the superior tactical force in the ‘skirmish’ phase, ie the warzone. In the event of a super majority of possession (70%+) possession the victorious party will be allowed to choose both their deployment and that of the enemy. Having outmaneuvered them so distinctly that the opponent is forced into disadvantageous ground. Deployment being in reference to the existing ‘warclaim’ deployment.

Siege warclaims would become ‘Assaults’. With the actual sieging phase ie: the use of artillery to weaken the defences of the besieged, would instead become a warzone equipped with siege weapons. Attackers would operate and defend the siege weapons while defenders would be able to sally out and disable the siege weapons. The warclaim ‘assault’ would then take place with no further sieging, with the attackers attacking the fortification in its most recent state of damage. Warzones would take place during a window of say 2pm GMT to 2am EST (7am GMT) from where activity begins to pick up to where it begins to fall off.

C. Anarchy. Entirely new system wherein the lands of both factions would be fully available. Each holding would have a flag within that must be changed in order for the settlement or keep to be ‘captured’. Anarchy warclaims would open up the territory of both conflicting factions to full pvp for the duration of the warclaim. Likely a two or three hour period. Commanders will need to allocate garrisons and manpower to different areas and prioritize various objectives. This would reduce lag as there would be fewer players in chunks and would also allow for a more enjoyable pvp experience. As you’d be able to have a meaningful objective oriented fight rather than just watching a stat check slideshow. At the end of the ‘warring’ period new warzones would set up. The side that had taken more enemy replacements would be given the initiative to declare what enemy keeps or settlements would receive a siege warzone and begin to be shelled.

New War Declaration Format

Preface

Probably some of the most radical change I’ve proposed for wars that are less utopian and more ‘quality of life’. Warclaim declarations have rather become declarations of war themselves. Where aggressors will submit the CBs they are using to justify (whether legitimately or illegitimately) going to war (The legitimacy of the CBs being determined irp.). The submissions of course being coupled with appropriate demonstrations of the RP behind said cbs.

Beyond this the most jarring additions are probably the insertion of the War Goals, Warpaths and giving the choice of battlefield to the defender. Firstly, I believe the addition of War Goals will be vital to ensuring that smaller wars however it will also stop wars from dragging on for too long. Aggressors will now be expected to go into a war with a well defined goal of war. Beyond this, I feel that the addition of Warpaths will serve as an integral mechanic due to its close ties with the skirmish system. Launching wars over unfavourable terrain will result in you being forced to fight uphill battles in the pitched field battle and in the warzone. Furthermore, it has always seemed alien to me that the aggressor determined the place of the field battle. Generally the attacking party is marching on a specific settlement and is intercepted by the defending party as to spare their immediate lands the ravages of invasion. Thus I think it is fit to allow the defending party the initiative in choosing the battlefield. Although should the Integrated system be accepted then the victorious party would be allowed to determine DEPLOYMENTS on the battlefield.

Format

Role-play:  

CBs: (Provide a list of CBs you believe to have with proof to back them up. These will be reviewed by moderators for approval.)

Side A: (The faction declaring war)

Side B: (The faction having war declared upon it)

Official Allies: (Side A will declare their allies and link the appropriate treaties or whatever substitute is necessary)

Proposed Date & Time: (Example: September 17, 1787 @ 3 P.M. EST.)

War Goal(s): State the intentions and goals of your campaign, ie what criteria need to be satisfied for the war to be over.

Warpath(s): State the route you will be using to reach your goal. Multiple theatres and fronts may be opened but will all take simultaneously if you do choose to rply divide your forces. Please accompany this with a picture of the map with the route drawn on it.

Skirmish Warzone location(s): The defending party will provide a screenshot of a location along the route where they will choose to fight should they decide to fight in the field. Keep in mind that offensive initiative can only be gained by winning a field battle or the enemy not presenting themselves.

Discord: (Your current Discord username, example: Test#1234.)

Final Notes and Reflections

The intent behind this rework is to invest as much agency as possible in the players and take a fire axe to tedious staff bureaucracy while streamlining war and making it more interesting for players involved. Ie: ensuring that wars produce more meaningful and goal oriented content for those involved. Hence the proposal to make warzones actually impactful. Having predetermined CBs entirely nukes player independence and excessively limits rp. Allowing GMs to rule on whether or not a CB is valid will just open up an already bias prone system to even more bias and partisanship. Wars should have as little GM influence as possible as any GM that claims they do not have innate biases is lying. I really do ardently believe that the success in LOTC lies in its nature as a dynamic medieval sandbox populated by characters piloted by other real people. Therefore removing as much red tape as we can will naturally progress to a more enjoyable experience for players.

Ego Stroking

Hey y’all, I think we can all pretty conclusively agree that the current state of warfare is absolutely horrid. The present system is excessively bureaucratic in nature and makes it nye impossible to conduct a proactive or aggressive military campaign or action. To that end I’d like to take a litmus test on community thought. War is, whatever you might think, a necessity to many lotc populations and rp communities. The dynamism and narratives player driven wars generate are responsible for many of the most epic stories of LOTC proper. Many LOTCers were drawn to our community by this unique aspect of our platform and following the many iterations of war and conflict nerfs. Departed. So I put the question to the community at large. What is your view, on LOTC wars?

Data Collection

With my last Your View:, I made an admittedly large error. Using a google form was a bad idea for a plethora of reasons. But in short it made it difficult to refine the data due to the long answers that were collected. Following this refinement it made it difficult to properly interpret the data. And no doubt the more mortal of sins, it made the publicization of said data an irritating and arduous chore that could be easily and reasonably criticized. The criticism filed at the data collection for raids was fair so I will be making an effort to publicize the data so that there are no questions on what the community thinks here. Data will be compiled in the form of the above poll, enabling all who wish to see the hard voted numbers do so above. Those who do not choose the correct options will be found in violation of the community guidelines :^) (Fireheart told me to say this was a joke).

The Situation

As it stands nobody understands how the LOTC war system works. But for those of us who pretend to, it mostly involves the fabrication of a series of CBs which almost to a T boil down to ‘they were mean to me so I should be allowed to hit them with my stick’. There is very little to absolutely no room for aggressive action, the system as it stands allows only (for the most part) retaliatory action. So, to ‘go to war’ one must wait for one’s enemies to make sufficient mistakes wherein the offended party can gather a bunch of major and minor cbs and conquer them. This system is unrealistic and stifles dynamism and political relations, conflicts and general rp between LOTC’s diverse political factions and entities. The only wars that currently happen are between tiny 20 man factions mostly comprised of inexperienced leaders and players who do not understand how to avoid being warred (by properly tip toeing around ooc regulations and barriers).

Some Thoughts

I don’t think I’ve ever been particularly subtle in voicing my ardent opposition to ooc barriers hindering legitimate rp. Especially legitimate conflict rp. Thus it is probably no surprise when I say that the current system needs a great deal of work before it is palpable. I personally believe that a reversion back to the old system is ideal. Wherein there are no ‘casus belli’ requirements. All that was required was merely stating the rp reasons that drove your faction to warfare. This of course prefaced by an rp post outlining the conflict or providing some nice fluffy context. There was absolutely nothing wrong with this system as it put the onus of regulation on the RP political entities of the wider world. Wars were not constant invasions by militant factions who would rampage out of control. Nor were passifcist factions heavily bullied by those militant factions. Protections were established IRP and that system worked admirably for the majority of LOTC’s lifespan.

In my view the system we have now relies too much on silly bureaucracy, excessively strict definitions and the  assumption that warfare is always just and righteous retaliation (in line with the democratic nations most LOTCers presumably come from). These restrictions should be cut away to remove the heavy restrictions on dynamism that are strangling lotc. However, I will concede that I am very much in favour of having to ‘pre register’ your alliances and bonds. While it might be a bit too strict as it stands preventing the acquisition of mercenaries and such. It is a good starting point to stop every war from devolving into an absolute global slog that was chic during Athera and for the entirety of Vailor.

Some Thoughts Regarding Warclaim Mechanics.

Now, to delve into my one and only love. Discussing minecraft warfare systems and mechanics. I personally would like to see a modification made to the current way we do set piece and pitched battles on lotc. I also really think we’ve really badly bungled warzones as a concept and as an execution and think warzones can be applied to make warfare significantly more interesting.

Firstly I’d like to talk about Warzones. Historically warzones have been a big activity draw for consistent conflict and mechanical based content on lotc. However they have largely been entirely irrelevant in the resolution or outcome of a warclaim proper. In my eyes warzones on LOTC serve as a proxy for the ‘siege’ phase of a siege or to represent the skirmishing between scouts and foragers of marching armies. Thus they should have more of an impact upon the outcome of a conflict, rewarding factions for their victories in skirmishes and prolonged commitment to this kind of content. Warzones in my ideal rework would server two purposes, both giving significant rewards towards dominant parties. A siege warzone would involve the operation of siege weapons prior to the actual siege warclaim (which is essentially a forlorn hope / general assault rather than a siege). During this defenders would have the option to sally forth and disable the war machines, with consistent dominance of a siege warzone ensuring that the fortifications of the enemy are heavily damaged or untouched depending on the actions of involved parties. The second kind of warzone would be the skirmish warzone, which would precede a field battle. Involved parties would battle over key checkpoints to determine dominance. With the most dominant party being able to choose their point of deployment on the battlefield and perhaps if sufficiently dominant the deployment area of their opponent, to represent tactical outmaneuvering / ambushes / flanks etc.

As for warclaims themselves. I personally dislike the one battle a week, pitched battle slideshow we’ve suffered with for so long. I think it’s a really unfun experience for something that should be very engaging content. Generally warclaims devolve into a hyper lagged slide show where the commanders will yell that you are winning and to push even though they have absolutely no idea what is happening. There are very few warclaims in the ‘modern’ era of lotc that are sufficiently free of lag as to allow skill and command decisions to manifest in the outcome. This of course compounded by the absolutely horrid grind of a one battle per weekend war. I personally would like to see a more free flow war system. The entire territory of both factions being moved to the war server. And for a period of say two hours both sides are able to try and assault or defend as many locations as they can. If you are able to say raise a flag or replace a block of wool within a keep you capture than that keep would fall into your control on the live server. Commanders would need to actually consider where to send their troops to either attack or defend, having to properly allocate resources to maximize gains and minimize losses. Additionally not having 200 people in a single chunk would be great for reducing lag. At the end of the two hour period the state of the war server would be transferred to live and new warzones would be setup for the week. This would continue until a peace settlement or victory condition was met ending the war. It’s a bit radical perhaps but we need to acknowledge the reality that warclaim lag especially for very large pitched battles is not going away. So to cut down on extremely long one dimensional wars that devolve into a stat check on population or degree of traps this might be a more interesting alternative. As it would allow multiple battles to take place simultaneously and allowing skilled players to showcase their skill rather than watch slideshows.

Some Responses to FAQs

Q: When are Coup Rules being done?

A: After War Rules

Q: Why can’t we just remove wars entirely

A: Because you’re a pheasant

Serious Answer: Because wars generate an insane amount of our player driven narratives and are one of the biggest draws for a server. Lotc is a dynamic roleplay server rather than a slice of roleplay server. Therefore it is crucial we have systems that reflect this and allow the players to aptly showcase and enjoy the dynamism and freedom we offer here. War rules have become increasingly restrictive over the years and this is us dipping our toes into the proverbial waters of LOTC to see if folks would like something a little more free.

Q: Won’t militant factions just go crazy and conquer everything?

A: They haven’t in the past when we had significantly fewer restrictions than we had today

Q: Why should aggression be allowed?

A: RP dynamism and realism

Q: Didn’t you **** up on Raids.

A: Yes I feel that I really let the community down on how I approached raids. I think that I came in with a vision of my own and then tried to tailor that vision to satisfy polls, rather than constructing a system after taking a large amount of polling data. I think the biggest failure was that I tried to gather data via long answer questions rather than just yes / no voting questions and adding new options as the community suggested them. I’ll be letting raids sit for a while because we did spam the **** out of the community with polls for almost a month before we try to come back to them with a clean slate. Leowarrior’s poll did indicate there was a desire for a change to rules but perhaps my proposed system was not the correct one. When we as a team do end up returning to raids I’ll be constructing an entirely new ruleset going exclusively off the polling data we had. Anyway that isn’t the purpose of this post. I want to get the ball rolling on wars because I know that I have the energy, tolerance and work ethic to try and get it done. Raids, Wars and Coup rule upgrades were my main goal when I joined the team and I intend to continue trying to fight that fight

”Narthok I’m not reading 4 pages of your ramblings, whats the low down?”

1. Wars are over bureaucratized and restrain rp excessively

2. It might be cool to look at changing warclaims and making warzones more relevant

3. I’ll be approaching data collection and publicizing it in a different method. Putting the horse before this cart this time and making any new war / CB systems after community polling has completed.

4. Please feel free to defend the current system / criticize it / criticize my ideas / suggest your own improvements or changes below I will try to answer everyone I can.