Hello all,
This is an open post I hope can be the beginning of a conversation that can hopefully push the game forward in the right way.
Even before the "great reset" of war declarations, warfare in Battlemaster has been a game of arguably overarching alliance blocs. What I mean by this is that realms whom are friendly, have great history or some other element circumnavigate the alliance bloc limitations to fight in the same war and against the same enemy. What this means for different islands can be observed below:
- For EC, this was the North (overarching alliance bloc) / South (overarching alliance bloc) war which abruptly come to an end with the "great reset". Reasons for war largely forgotten by many players, discussions arising from this reset have shown that no realm is prepared to re-declare war due to the fear of continental warfare once again where everyone will "pile in" or new war breaking trust with old allies.
- For BT, this was seen through the recent Thalmarkin-Irondale war where just before the "great reset", I think four realms were at war with Thalmarkin at one point. While this has calmed down to Thalmarkin vs Irondale/Nothoi, the problem has not gone away and was highlighted.
- For DWI, the most recent continental war of Tol Goldora (supported by Lurian Empire) vs Westgard (supported by the Alliance of Free Nations) drew all the realms into many fronts which were all part of the dispute over one city region. With peace, the Alliance of Free Nations (an overarching alliance bloc of five realms maintained via guild) has created a deadlock in continental diplomacy.
- Unfortunately, I do not play in the Colonies and cannot comment.
In my opinion, the above indicates many traits the game currently adopts:
- The most common war declaration and victory condition is arguably the takeover of territory. Yet, with the density currently at 2.0, only a few realms would accept the risk to declare war for land of which they can realistically govern. There are also realms which fall short by varying degrees of this density limit which also impacts their capacity or desire to declare war. What is the solution for this? Would reducing the density undermine the reason for it's increase in the first place - encouraging active realms.
- With existing realms with years of history, how do realms choose to govern themselves IC to not pile in or join overarching alliance blocs when their ally or common enemy is struck? Is there a way to govern such?
- With the risk of pile in so high, rulers are very risk averse and are not prepared to create war, which ultimately is a large part of Battlemaster.
- With the above points, diplomacy is very likely to be deadlocked and new creative ways to declare war or create new story is very likely to be met with one of the two above.
- Would introducing new frameworks for war remove a player's agency for choice? Battlemaster is a sandbox to so many to be free with RP - would the line be crossed with an arbitrary game mechanic?
- Finally, is peace a bad thing? Or is it only good in small doses?
Therefore, I hope we can start this conversation and think about OOC what we can do as a community, or perhaps even not to do about this. If I have missed anything, please post in the post.
If there are any incorrect statements or you perceive as bias, please check the Greybrook Family for the characters I represent in each continent.
I hope this helps.
Cheers,
Greybrook Family
