Conflict & War FAQ

[Telanir 6434]

Conflict & War FAQ

Back To Our Roots | July 4^th, 2019

 

Good day everyone,

 

Ever since the abysmal war last month, the war rules became our #1 priority. Staff have been hard at work evaluating, brainstorming, and revising.

 

I've been hard at work too. I’d like to show you guys these efforts.

 

I've seen the war rules cause problems for years on end. Every year there are several rewrites—except they build off the same philosophy and therefore reach the same problems. Adding, editing, and redacting a system that is fundamentally broken wastes our time. It’s time we began from scratch.

Thank You

Before I continue, I would like to thank the people who made this project possible. 

 

@IZipZapManIand @Sykogenic who pulled off major discipline and initiative to complete a rewrite draft and pull war into the staff limelight. @Cracker for his wisdom in the chat and insightful document on the issues in war, which prompted my involvement in the efforts. @Jaeden For his critique and comprehensive proposal on raids.

 

As well, these people were instrumental in refining the rules and provided specific and actionable feedback.

 

Thank you @Lukariatias @Suxals @Silverstatik @BenevolentManacles @mra8ur93ss @Hunwald @Fireheart @FlamboyantTyrant.

Identifying Our Principles

First, I wanted to define, from the ground up, our principles for conflict on LotC. Here is my philosophy behind the upcoming revision.

• Players are the authority—not the Staff. My job as Staff is to facilitate a cordial setting for the exchange.
• I’m not a fan of systems which require deliberate, consistent, and competent staff involvement. It is better for all of us if we can if good wars rely on the community and not on staff meddling in your affairs.
• If two nations wish to run a war their own way that would be more fun for them, the staff should do everything in their power to adjust to their custom war rules.
• Wars are fundamentally an in-character endeavour and a way for us to cooperatively write a story together.
• Wars should be dynamic and founded in roleplay—not a numbers game.
• Rules should be straightforward. If you need a crack legal team in order to asses them we have already failed. A convoluted system managed by fallible humans will consistently produce mistakes.

Questions

What does dynamic mean in the context of these new rules?
Dynamic means that wars won’t be bound to a rigid enforced structure. The old rules were locked into strange modes of thinking and built around sealing loopholes instead of creating a fun open-ended experience.

 

What’s an example of something new I can do I couldn’t with the old rules?
 Wars are governed by the players which call for them. They are now fully dynamic as opposed to a static set of untouchable rules. Try an open sesame war with no warclaims and negotiate unlimited raids. Try a no-mechanics war: special raids locked to text-combat for two willing nations, try magic wars (however you might define that)—try involve Story for events in your war, involve Development for interesting mechanics, etc.

 

May we hold a war without all the warclaim overhead?
Absolutely. The new system revolves around a thing called the good-spirit clause. You can use this anytime together to decide custom rules for your war. You may want a simple 3 month war with no victorious side to take advantage of the new raiding system.

 

What are you going to do about toxicity and OOC-meddling?
In the new system we give a solid incentive to treat your “opponent” with respect and dignity. It encourages mutual cooperation and respect in out-of-character to facilitate an intriguing and meaningful war in-character. It means there are substantial consequences to toxicity toward your enemy. And the best part is—we’ve managed to reach this with no staff interference.

 

Will you require admin-approval for conquest in the new rules?
Nope!

 

Will raids and banditry require moderation on-site?
Nope. If you can get somewhere, you can get there. It is player moderated, meaning that you should be careful to deliberately upset the people you raid. The new rules focus on creating an environment that allows both sides to enjoy conflict.

 

What will you do about villainy blacklists?
The new rules replace them with conflict blacklist. Conflict blacklists specify concrete ways you can avoid them and cannot be applied if you cooperate with on-site Moderation. This way we rid us of inconsistent rulings and focus on partnership rather than punishment.

 

How will I deal with constant villainy and harassment?
You can’t be raided by massive attack parties unless you’re at war. If you are concerned, close your gates—or move inward. Roleplay in your house, prepare escape routes if you need, etc. Consistent, deliberate, and targeted conflict is still bannable. If it’s motivated in-character it’s fine—but if it is metagamed (OOC biases pulled into roleplay) it is against the rules.

 

Who will place my ladders when I attack?
Nobody, staff don’t meddle in these things anymore. As long as you can hop, skip, and jump your way in you’re fine. If you glitch in illegally, you may be asked to reproduce your route.

 

What happened to Cassus Belli?
Forcing roleplay to match specific OOC criteria generally means even when both sides desire war they must fabricate mock roleplay. It becomes a game of arithmetic rather than the mutual story we enjoy. They’re gone. Long live the freedom of dynamic roleplay.

When does it come out?

We are releasing the war rules 22-24 hours from now. After the introductory phase we will release a Your View on the new Conflict Rules and assess the results.

 

Nation Leaders have early access. I thank you to the NL’s who opted to participate in the early discussions and especially for the suggestions and feedback you offered.

 

Please ask your leadership for more information regarding the upcoming rules. They are authorized to discuss the rules freely.

[Vindicant 641]

This is an excellent change, built around foundations for story. +1

[Unwillingly 11634]

hey that’s pretty good 

[Harri 4814]

please just go back to skirm --> siege forts in one direction until you reach the capital for the love of god we dont need these huge ******* pages

[Haseroth 963]

15 minutes ago, Telanir said:

Who will place my ladders when I attack?
Nobody, staff don’t meddle in these things anymore. As long as you can hop, skip, and jump your way in you’re fine. If you glitch in illegally, you may be asked to reproduce your route.

I’m not sure how i feel about this, does that mean that if a town’s walls are remotely high enough (unjumpable) it makes them unraidable? Since you cant ladder up anymore.

[Inferno_Ougi 1454]

hold up no ladders?

[Tulan 443]

Good! World Domination in 1, 2, 3, here we go!

[Keldrith 717]

Sounds promising 

[Harri 4814]

hahahah wait you’re just making the gm team do less and less 

no fly

no raid moderation (very important lmao)

no ladders

why are you consistently removing more and more responsibilities from the gm team soon they wont even have to log in

 

it’s all well and good to make a system where the gms do nothing so we cant blame you for all the awful **** ups you create and ruin your day by flaming your decision on the forums, but nothing will ever be done if you leave it 100% to players the players on this server all hate one another and will never agree to work with another side, especially if they are starting a war with them. if we were in a utopia these could work but this is a toxic internet community where no one will work together and we’ll be stuck in an endless loop of ‘they dont consent to losing’

[TrendE 1324]

Why speak to NLs to begin with when I do not think that I can name one that actively PVPs / raids, instead of speaking to the people that do?

I can already tell that this is going to create a laughable set of rules that is completely incomparable to what you have described here; then again, seeing that there are going to be no raid ladders, that might be for the best.

[Zacho 1774]

2 minutes ago, TrendE said:

Why speak to NLs to begin with when barely any of them actively PVP / raid, instead of speaking to the people that do?

I can already tell that this is going to create a laughable set of rules that is completely incomparable to what you have described here; then again, seeing that there are going to be no raid ladders, that might be for the best.

Why facilitate so much PVP and Raiding when it leads hardly any roleplay and pvp being the total opposite of PVP.

[TrendE 1324]

4 minutes ago, Zacho said:

Why facilitate so much PVP and Raiding when it leads hardly any roleplay and pvp being the total opposite of PVP.

I’ve never read such a low-effort response from a GM before in my life. Literally have no clue what you’re even trying to say lol

[Ioannis 1478]

  It wont hurt to try them out. Hopefully, some dynamic RP will be created out of them. The community has been complaining that the Moderation Team is uncapable of doing wars/raids. Well, these new changes will get the Moderation Team to take a step away and let us do our own things. Also, it does make sense as the communities/playerbases who are about to fight should be ones who decide on what actually happens. +1

 

Last part, finally no more “We will destroy what you worked for years” attitude. 

 

 

Edited July 4, 2019 by Ioannis

[snoopie12 817]

Good to hear that Staff is listening and working really hard to fix their mistakes.

[monkeypoacher 6994]

21 minutes ago, TrendE said:

Why speak to NLs to begin with when I do not think that I can name one that actively PVPs / raids, instead of speaking to the people that do?

I can already tell that this is going to create a laughable set of rules that is completely incomparable to what you have described here; then again, seeing that there are going to be no raid ladders, that might be for the best.

 

NLs control major rp centers which the staff want to keep healthy so the server stays active

 

Really sorry to ask that the staff didn’t ask you specifically if changing the rules will make your PVP experience better! The staff of this role-playing server has priorities dunno what to say