My Personal (And Subjective) Issues With War & Nationhood

[Borin 7645]

44 minutes ago, TrendE said:

It's basically all I comment about now on Discord/the forums, but the server really does just need to return to the PVP and war setup of Atlas/Arcas. It would solve so many issues, including the material costs of being involved in conflict.
 

Muh arcas patrolling... fun... I wonder if I was just either oblivious to it not being so, or guards vs bandits was more chill and enjoyable, and less, uh, forum posts and youtube clips to shit music?

Wholesome guard rp is pretty dead, esp. small-scale lil vassal levies I remember taking part in, where you'd chill then go out and patrol, skirm w bandits, escort people along the helena --> ves road...

[Treshure 5817]

things are too restrictive perhaps we can make them less restrictive one year later good god there’s a million of these guys around we’ve got to put a handle on this one year later new players join up with dreams and we dash their dreams and we stuff them into 

[GMRO 6186]

bring back free build, don’t let them declare any wars 

[Kardika 1057]

3 hours ago, Werew0lf said:

I might see this from a different lens entirely, but I do not think 20,000 mina is a lot for a Realm; although this server is falsely advertised as a cool roleplay fantasy server to make epic Kingdoms and all that fazzaz, it does not help much. You run into two issues: either, one a) realms are scarce because of how expensive they are, or b) realms become too easy to make, causing the map to get bloated with dead ghost-settlements and nations. My opinion is that the realm system right now is quite fair, and also, nothing is stopping these settlements from not making a realm eventually -- kingdoms do not just spawn in, you build them up. You start as a settlement, and eventually, invariably, you get enough people and resources to become a realm. 

 

Unfortunately, the war system was not written in mind for the current server dynamic, it was done quite poorly, in all honesty. They wrote a lot of the system in hopes of seeing the 'little guy vs little guy' wars, but these never happened, because no little guys were left to exist. However, at the same time, I do not think big nations should be punished for having more numbers. Evidently, I think these past two warclaims have been heinous -- poor judgement on defender build standards (wait until the Empire blows up and then trying to make the defences these guys did, where 500% more leeway was given) and also poor judgement on how sieges work (war-goals, holding places, so on). A lot of war-goals also just seem like fluff and will probably never be used.

 

The only good thing going with this current dynamic is the opportunity for little guy wars to happen internally, as you exampled, Avistra vs Drusco. At the same time, I find it quite ironic that we're talking about wars as of now being similar to COD lobby's when Avistra vs Drusco was just your side logging on at 4AM and jumping 15 year old boys. I also do not think 20 hours in a month is a strenuous playtime requirement when most of your rally met that requirement (because they were playing actively), or they didn't (because they didn't want to play). 

 

War costs are fine IMO but they might become an issue for the little guy wars. The Urguan-Horde stuff is probably going to ring up around 80-90k (perhaps) or so. Most nations wouldn't be able to afford this, it will 100% get reduced, we were just told 'eh but empire can afford it innit'. Trying to finance the payment for 6 other nations barring myself was alright because we were making enough money to pretty much sub-cut it, also Urguan flaking twice made it cheaper for us, but if they hadn't? We would have lost a lot of $$$, and I do not think the increased movement cost is going to assist. Doing 25 mina instead of 15 mina with the subsides costs would probably ring up to 100k mina.

 

I agree that the server is in a bit of a competitive state, but I wouldn't say that is primarily unique to the Empire -- as you've stated, it has existed for the last 6 years. I wish there was a way to make wars cooler, and more epic roleplay wise, but that will never happen. War is always competitive, and it can stress nation leaders out.

 

I think the moving forward of this is to:

 

1) See how settlements work with the current system in place before changes are made.

2) Change the war rules after this whole fiasco to outline concerns, a lot of bits and bobs were left unwritten or unanswered, or written in a way where it would either screw over the small guy, or screw over the big guy.

3) Assess the build standards for defences in this war.

 

Also, one thing to note, these little guy wars, if done in good favour, can have agreements. Reduced realm join activity, or reduced playtime. For example, with the Empire-Salvo war, I agreed to let Salvo have a reduced realm join time (instead of being in the realm for 2 weeks, we cut it down for 7 days so people from Urguan could join the Horde realm and continue to fight). Unfortunately, wars are never done in good favour. No offence to you, Javvy, but when you were NL and leading the 'war', it was like talking to a brick wall and so compromises didn't really exist in the Horde-Urguan-Empire war. 

 

That is all.

If you think we had leeway for the defenses you are sorely mistaken

they did not let us properly fortify the area in the urguan siege at points where we KNEW you were going to tunnel from.
they also made us keep the front gate open even though you guys planned to tunnel.

they spawned in a ladder able surface for you guys in the recent salvo siege, making the entire overhang obsolete.

lastly you were a **** the entire war to the urguan/horde leadership, no wonder it was like talking to a brick wall, get real bro.

 

[StingyParrot 1595]

raaaa i love it when i spend 16 weeks learning a magic so i can get bodied by pvp-patriot#31 who does not suffer from consistent terrible ping and has a machine that can run mc better than 25fps (im just bad at pvp tho)
raaaa i love it when magic groups get hit with null arcana during every warclaim and cant leverage in-universe abilities to impact a war 

 

can you tell im a voidmalder

[Werew0lf 24179]

1 hour ago, Kardika said:

If you think we had leeway for the defenses you are sorely mistaken

they did not let us properly fortify the area in the urguan siege at points where we KNEW you were going to tunnel from.
they also made us keep the front gate open even though you guys planned to tunnel.

they spawned in a ladder able surface for you guys in the recent salvo siege, making the entire overhang obsolete.

lastly you were a **** the entire war to the urguan/horde leadership, no wonder it was like talking to a brick wall, get real bro.

 

you had a lot of leeway mate look at ur horrendous builds (like not the imgur portfolio mate ur defences u get me cuz ur a little ratty defender imo mate but that’s what I need for my build so maybe it’s partially good comms)

 

urguan siege was ur guys arguing we should tunnel mate you just wanted to alter the city fully and block off places that wouldn’t have mattered cuz we were tunnelling (wouldn’t have changed outcome)

 

ur forts were aids too mate u guys had ur shadow admin josh pre approve stuff before war rules

 

and yes mate I dabbled in a bit of tomfoolery but that’s because ur sides leadership were insufferable sore losers mate that’s as simple as. when the war started and I played nice mate javy was like a terrible ***** trolling me, no offence to javvy , trolled his own guys n made 0 compromises in DMs when I was trying to be nice, kept brushing off ideas for capped skirms or even discussions for war games by going “hur dur speak to cakefool” like let’s lock in for a second. would have proposed decreased hours and playtime for your side or even capping the warclaim numbers but wallahi he was so annoying that I decided to counter annoy people in war chat on purpose with Karen-paragraphs about ur defences (run them through AI generators it might say 100%)
 

most of our guys went in from the front gates and leapt the little overhang anyways cuz these idiots couldn’t listen to comms so the ladders didn’t even change anything cuz we made a breach into the main city already mate (check ur replay mod mate they ran through ur front gate from the bridge)

look Kardika mate, I know you guys were just bad, it’s ok, but let’s make it up, plz finish my build

[wowj 9747]

not going to lie the 20,000 mina requirement is not crazy considering how much mina is thrown around at item auctions

[Anbennar 2351]

@Werew0lf@Kardikalove eachother and be best friends

[Werew0lf 24179]

40 minutes ago, IHateTurbo_Dog said:

@Werew0lf@Kardikalove eachother and be best friends

I love Kardika he’s just playing hard to get

[BurberLord123 375]

Oohhh my krug, ohhh im orcing it so hard

 

Ohhhh im absolutly stargushing

 

Ooooooo call me an immortal

 

Im orcing it again

 

Ruulllllggggggg

 

 

 

 

(Kiss and make up nerds, both have grivences that are valid, it is not the other side that is the issue, it is the lack of both unbiased mod decisions and unclear build terms

 

also uhhh

 

KRUG BE GOOD TO SALVO WAAAGHHH LONG LIVE THE REVOLUTION)

[Laeonathan 5889]

8 hours ago, Kardika said:

they spawned in a ladder able surface for you guys in the recent salvo siege, making the entire overhang obsolete.

bruh i spent hours on that, its quite disappointing to hear that... why even waste time on pretty and defensive cities, if they get removed?

[Riot 743]

TLDR: I don’t disagree with making attacking easier, but current warclaim mechanics can invalidate defender preparation (like terrain being bypassed), which feels inconsistent.
 

10k mina is achievable, especially with time, but VIP perks and high activity levels significantly speed up progress, creating uneven footing between players.
 

The warclaim experience itself was frustrating due to unclear rules, OOC tension, and being undermanned, but most dwarves chose to fight for RP integrity rather than surrender.
 

Discord coordination is realistically necessary for a global server, and player reputation and behavior heavily influence RP opportunities.
 

At the end of the day, people will disagree—what matters is how you choose to play your character, treat others, and contribute to the server’s overall experience.

Spoiler

I know I'm late to the party. Sadly, I was at work for this war claim. And I massively apologize to the Salvo warclaim for not being able to join. but with the current warclaim rules and abilities, I don't disagree with @PrimnyaQuorummaking it easier for attackers. We were nerfed, and our defenses were destroyed in the Urguan capital tile, for it to all be ignored by the Empire digging through the mountain.

Because of the current warclaim abilities and seeing them like this, we are taking this into account in our new build and fully expect them to be denied for one reason or another

OR

They will be nerfed whenever a war claim comes our way.

As the Dwarven settlement leader/Creator, I will say that 10k mina is not a lot (HEAR ME OUT). And tbh if given more time, I would easily afford the price of a realm, but this would be because of OOC factors about the VIP functions that ARE 100% PAY TO WIN

On my own, without using VIP perks, I have earned more than half of the required 10k mina in 2 weeks after the destruction of Urguan alone with little help even thought the rest has been brought on by the other dwarves

I have played this server a lot, tbh, in the 15 weeks I've been on this server. But I will say some things. 

1) If I did not have Aether VIP, I would still have been able to afford this BUT it would massivly hinder My ability to create items in such a short time (14 Edit tokens a week) which i use to sell and make Mina, with the description length I have to describe and make my weapons in RP noticeably more interesting (25 lines of text), while other players can earn the ability to make these weapons given time and RP lessons on how items work... most of the items i sell are worldlore and common knowlege items, i simply read the redlines and see RP and CRP advantages these are legaly allowed to use and Nerf or buff them as per redlines and how i personally see fit. 

2) I am currently a bartender and recently got out of the military. I have A LOT more free time to play than most people. TBH, this is the first time I've ever roleplayed on a scale like this, except for those late nights on the Submarine playing Dungeons and Dragons with the boys. The time I have spent on this server, I do not expect others to obtain. And even to me it's kind of exhausting, and I have seen myself take a step back more in-game recently due to OOC harassment and threats to my character, and OOC lead RP, @Two2the which has caused grievances with the dwarven community, leading to him being removed durring the timeframe of the war, which I personally don't think was a bad idea. Even I, when he DM'ed me as i was left out of the warclaim chat, went to troll him, then promptly got called out and threated by staff about my OOC trolling when the counterpoint is not kept the same for others. IDGAF about that the staff who were upset about my comment already retracted their statement, and ive even offered me PVP gear for the slander and callout of my name. As much as that was another slap in the face to the dwarves, I still really didn't care much about it, and it's in the past. The staff spends hours on the warclaim, and the players spend just as long when it comes to grinding out gear for what we want to roleplay. We have mostly been stuck in limbo with my ships being left out at sea as we wait for some way to roleplay our main characters properly. And thankfully @Daisyhas been VERY helpful with MANY other people and staff helping out as well. Shoutout to @trinn @sujiliciousand @Tainga for being VERY helpful mods during this stressful process. 

3) @Werew0lf is right that the current war claim rules are a problem, but I don't expect them to change. I personally cannot see any good way to change these, as ive stated before, and ill state again ive heard of the Empire complaining in OOC, even doing so much as calling dwarves @Beardicusspedophiles for Unga Bunga, which massively ticked off the Dwarven community and then led to the warclaim getting reduced in price for any number of reasons. The reason presented to me because of egg throwing and trash items in the inventory. the roles of NL is to make the minecraft game fun for everybody and @Papa Rock has tried hard to make it fun. We more or less had no choice (or what felt like it to forfeit the battle due to the ban threats and unknown rules of what we should do in the warclaim, and to try to give our best fight in the warclaims. we were undermanned and outgunned we knew we were not going to win and ive heard each and every side from "you should have surrendered from the beginning and not drawn it out to not have RP issues"  to " we would get memed on and Missives written about us about how the dwarves surrendered" most players wished to fight to the very end even as going as far as joining Salvo to continue the fight. This isn't saying we have enjoyed this experience, but it is how we decided the proper dwarf RP for our characters was. Most people agreed with Ulfar that vassalizing under the Empire, losing the "Grand" in the Kingdom of Uruguán, and the treatment of dwarves was not something our dwarves would accept. And backed up Ulfar, going so far as the dwarves that didn't participate in the war that now follow me to this new Settlement are still roleplaying that they (just like me) don't enjoy PVP or the OOC harassment, so they left the server for peace of mind. We have even told people that real life comes first. Some of our people are in the military, and others are civilians in real-life warzones as we speak.

4) when it comes to the server being discord ran its honestly the most realistic solution for people who can RP at the same time as others are on at the same time of the majority of the group who gets the permissions to be Stewards, or RO's or so on. its a worldwide server and not everyone can be online all a tth esame time. i dont see any other reason or way to do it. 

5) War happens; the side you choose is your choice. The actions you take are your actions. You are not enslaved by your location or NL (that required OOC consent, which is still your choice) ive been lucky enough to have the freedom to RP more than others and build my character's name and reputation. But that also is OOC in a way to fall back on the other point ive made. if you are a known ERP'er, if you are a known Harraser, if you are problematic person. people wont want to RP with you or follow you. which is again their choice to do so. if people dont trust you or you have thrown away said trust because of OOC actions the only person to blame is yourself. @Hushalso has a point. i have worked tirelessly with @Smol when it came to new pink tags to ensure they could RP on the server without being harrassed for simply joining the server on the wrong race. 

6) this one pertains to more of what ive heard from the moment i joind the server until recently when threats of bans were again tossed around and it could come from my American side of my brain but things people say OOC when talking about peoples characters and how they play them (and in this case relations to tragaties in the past of what it appears to relate to to those people) should not play a factor in a ban for peoples personal opinions. and the other sides upset and outrage isnt unjustified either but lets just look at @_Elrith_ for a second. ive seen this persons name alot and ive been told it was a troll in the creation fo the name that oldheads know alot about. ive been told this name is an anagram. i can see it, some people play ignorant and it could be all lies but this dosent set a great precident. If slave RP, Racism and sexism is legal on LOTC then why isnt freedom of thought or sharing that thought. again im american i know this doesn't pertain to the whole world. and i dont think anything should change but thats just where i stand

In the end of the day, cry out, outrage, post about it on the forums or go on with your day. you are interacting with the world here. not everybodys ideas are the same, some people may or may not enjoy what you do. it happens if its too much, you are welcome to take a break.  OOC stuff will happen, IRP stuff will happen, People will have their opinions. what matters is what you want to do with your character and what you want to be as your person. my "evil" character is barely evil becuase i simply dont enjoy hurting peoples RP experience and wish everyone a fun time on this server... Except those with TOS bans. My thoughts on them would get me banned for gore posting. i personally dont enjoy the company of people who enjoy ruining other peoples RP wether you are Human, Black church, Elf or Dwarf. and will try my best to make bridges OOC and IRP to help make this server better for the playerbase while activly avoiding those who enjoy ruining RP and the enjoyment of others. if this server was 18+ then i wouldnt give 2 shits whats happening with ERP or anything else but this server does have children so please, please keep it in your pants...  ive gotten off topic but nonetheless its just most of what ive heard of recent current events on the server and think posts like these are a great wqay to bring up disccussions. dont be afraid to have these discussions. reach out the best you can. i know i try. this server beings me and the people i play with alot of fun and thats why i keep playing. so i can reach my goal and bring others along with me for the fun adventures. and if something isnt changing. go ahead and try to be that change. 

 

[MrMojoMordor 2413]

While i sort of agree with both Javert & some things said by people in the comments, however IN PRACTICE one thing i think people keep ignoring is the fact that LotC players absoloutly suck major ass in getting organized - UNLESS you got insane clout OR you do things at the right time, having all the stars align constantly. In case of Empire of Azuras it was both - and it took around 1.5 years from Burgundy to Empire of Azuras. People downplay it but it's an insane monumental achievement.
I agree with the sentiment that smaller wars are fun though. I think i've not had as much fun since rejoining after my 2018-2023 break, then i did with Heartlands Crisis (Petra v Aaun). But again, reality is often disappointing. I pray the eventual collapse of the Empire will be fun & engaging.

(Though, let's be honest - people talk about empty keeps & builds if realm/settlement costs or signatures are lowered, but Empire is already full of them. Turn the 5 to 20 empty houses by your keep into farm-fields.)

RANT(because i'm in a mood):
From my own two-cents about war/settlements/ect.ect.

I've been pushing for & fiddling with a goblin-town for over a year. The Horde was basically dead for the entierty of 2024 & most of 2025. During the past year, various things have happened that have impacted it's realization - some of them my own fault & some of them general world happenings.
Both of them I am fine with, RP is RP & i hold no grudges against anyone for it.
But it does get incredibly frustrating sometimes to juggle:
- the groups interest (including mine)
- necessary RP (aka trying to set up a meeting with the big dogs & there's a hundred layers for that because i'm a goblin.)

- my free time (including others)

- gathering money (without being blessed with 40 guys or ST mats)

 

And this btw. isn't me trying to make a realm or a settlement or a lair - i literally want to dig a hole into a mountain or underground and put a bunch of huts up under a vassal of a 'vassal' of the Empire. Granted, i was given a few chances to just do it back in Aveos, but in my greed i pushed it back as it was close to map-end & i wanted it to be properly implimented.

[graveyard_bones 213]

Hi, to preface, I have witnessed wars via livestreams and screenshares on YouTube and Discord, so take what I am about to say with a grain of salt; my opinion bears little weight here. At the end of the day, I am sitting down on my laptop at work and adding side comments, rather than looking to kickstart an argument. I just want to drop what I think somewhere c:

 

On 4/4/2026 at 1:36 PM, Javert said:

Lord of the Craft is not a geopol server. It's not a map painter. It's not a Total War game. It is advertised as a Fantasy Roleplay server where on the very front page it proclaims that you can, to quote it directly, "Build your own nation, learn and cast powerful magics - Become a King, an Emperor, a Wizard, or a Warrior. Your path is your own, what will you chose?"

 

I find this part in particular rather interesting. LOTC is, at the end of the day, a fantasy roleplay server, but has ultimately shifted to a geopol server. I believe this has something to do with the time scaling of the server, with the time ratio being 1:7 (or, 7:1?) and the culture the player base has built over the years. This puts heavy emphasis on players wanting their characters to make their mark because, in tandem with real-life duties, time flies by much quicker than usual. A mundane human can live upwards of ~2 OOC years, but the time played depends on who is playing them, and is ultimately closer to ~1 OOC year

 

Why I bring this up is because the time scaling is much more suited for the rise and fall of empires, settlements, nations, etc. War definitely panders toward a very small number of LOTCers who PvP quite often. That is to say, yes, there is a hint of false advertisement here and there, but I feel as though it also depends on where you roleplay

 

On 4/4/2026 at 1:36 PM, Javert said:

A lot of what we see in LotC is new players coming in, thinking of starting something up, then quickly becoming discouraged due to how grindy it is to actually create your own nation, or even to keep your group alive without being slaughtered because you refused to conform to the server's primary religion while playing a human. Some of these are community-rooted issues, but to me personally it has to do more with the difficulty of actually getting your boots on the ground.

 

This, I wholeheartedly agree with. I've seen a few times where ambitious, new players are able to weasel their way up into very high positions due to both roleplay skill and ability to easily converse with others, ICly and OOCly .. and that's kind of it. I barely witness any new player come in with the goal of starting their own settlement or creating a clan, however that happens. I hold very ambitious goals myself, but that is something I will seek ICly

 

Very little do I see them able to stick their foot in the door

 

Granted, this could be something to do with one's social ability, but many players have already settled down in a place they believe fits their character. Many settlements, vassals, nations, etc. already cover a majority of grounds and roleplay genres, resulting in a new player actively seeking something that doesn't copy a preexisting place. In fact, when I returned, I was shocked at the sheer number of vassals that existed under kingdoms, particularly the Empire of Man (which, in part, is due to war). Which brings me to my next point,

 

On 4/4/2026 at 1:36 PM, Javert said:

To create a Realm on LotC, it is a whopping 25,000 mina and 40 (if I remember correctly) player signatures.

On 4/4/2026 at 1:36 PM, Javert said:

There is the option of becoming a Settlement (which is still a crazy 10,000 mina and an admittedly more manageable 20 signatures) [...]

 

Maybe my take here is a little doggy, but I do not think that these numbers are inherently crazy. I stated this prior, however, a large majority of places that exist on Azuras right now pander to a large majority of different genres of roleplay. It may be a bad example due to the dark elves not quite having a place to settle per se, but the mina count, and charter signatures were completed rather quickly (please correct me if I'm wrong, though)

 

Either way, for the tail-end of the message, I quite like the idea of little guys vs. little guys. It strays away from the cut-and-dry big guy vs. little guy that I've witnessed time and time again, and puts more focus on those settlements that aren't just SoL roleplay or the ever-so-often darkspawn attack. People may find fun in that, and I do myself! There's nothing wrong with it, but the more paths the merrier

 

Closing this out, finding a middle ground that supports both casual and competitive roleplayers may be difficult, but I don't think it's impossible. This discussion is definitely a step in the right direction 

[Nectorist 12869]

This is all unironically the fault of 98% of human RPers since 2020 for being wholly unambitious