War Declaration Questions & Answers

[Anaris]

The Titan team and the Admins would like to take a moment to clarify some issues regarding the War Declaration system and the recent political situation on Beluaterra.
Regarding the War Declarations, we want to clear up some misconceptions.

• The purpose of the War Dec is not for us to control wars. The Titans are notified when a war is declared, but there is no approval process. The purpose is for realms to officially state why they are going to war and what is their objective. The main purpose of this is to help keep wars on track. If a war has been going on for a year, and the cause is no longer relevant, it might be time to explore peace or otherwise re-evaluate the war.
• The ONLY time the Titans will intervene on a War Dec is if a war is for a reason that breaks the spirit of the game, seriously damages the fun of MANY players, or is a “bandwagon” war. “Just for Fun” wars are not the point of BattleMaster. There needs to be some sort of risk/reward and realistic politics involved.
• Regarding fun, obviously some people are not going to have fun losing a war or having their realm destroyed. That is part of the game, and we will never intervene to save a realm from destruction if it deserves to be destroyed. We WILL intervene if a realm is being so overwhelmingly ganged up on that they can do nothing but sit there and take it. There is a big difference between losing and being utterly steamrolled.
• A “bandwagon” war is when you involve your realm in a war that is already going on for no or weak reasons. BattleMaster works best when there are two or three realms of proportionate strength fighting. Large continental wars have a tendency to stall out, and this is not ideal. Jumping into an ally’s defensive war is a point of an alliance and is completely acceptable. Having three allies jump in when only one is needed for a real advantage or to even the odds is not alright because it leads to stagnation. “Bandwagon” wars have become increasingly common and they very often deteriorate the fun between the two original warring realms. Please discuss with your realm before jumping into an existing war whether you should be doing this or not.
• The War Dec system is not meant to replace in-game Treaties. Any war conditions agreed upon by the warring parties should be made into a Treaty. If either party wants the other bound by anything, they must agree to it in a treaty of some kind. War declarations are entirely one-sided. Please remember, Treaties are completely player driven. Just because you sign a Treaty does not mean you have to honour it.

We understand wars are fluid, and there have been discussions to have some sort of amendment option so that realms can update the purpose and objective of their war if it changes.


A War Dec should have a clear reason and objective. Some simple examples include:

“The realm of Riombara has declared war on Old Grehk for their continued looting of lands to which we hold claim. We aim to take over their regions of Avengmil and Rines as compensation.”

“The realm of Fontan has declared war on Westmoor for executing our Banker. We will not stop until we have reduced their realm to the regions of Oligarch, Akesh Temple, and Tabost OR the nobles of Westmoor remove Judge Vita from his position and subsequently banish him.”

"The Barony of Makar has declared war on the Ash Sea Islands for their continued attempts to conquest and enslave. They can not be trusted in any diplomacy efforts, and we will continue to fight them until the Ash Sea Islands have been destroyed.”

War Decs must not require approval from the defender. Any sort of “war conditions” (such as no TOs, only armies of 5kCS, etc…) should not be included in a War Dec.
To help clarify, we want to explain our views on the recent political situation on Beluaterra.

• Obia and VS enter into a war. They have reason and objective. No issues.
• SV enters the war against VS. This is something we scrutinize. They have an Alliance, but do they need to be in this war? VS and Obia have almost the same noble count, but Obia is in the process of moving their realm, meaning they have no income, no RCs, and could easily be outclassed by their enemy. A reason exists for SV to join the war to help their ally. The noble count is now 2:1 against VS. Still a fightable war, but more difficult.
• Hypothetically, moving forward, say Nova and Thalmarkin each join the war against VS. Let’s pretend Nova shares an alliance with SV and Obia, so they are using the same reason to join the war as SV did. Say Thalmarkin is upset that VS attacked them in the past, so they are declaring a retaliatory war. These are legitimate reasons to declare war, but THIS is the exact point where we are asking Rulers to step back and look at things from an OOC perspective. VS already has the odds against them. Is it completely necessary to initiate a 4:1 or 5:1 ratio? Absolutely not. Will you teach those pesky VS nobles a lesson? Sure. Will anyone on the losing side of a steamroll have any fun? Very doubtful.
• Now, let’s say VS is fighting SV and Obia, and they start winning, and are taking over SV regions. That is a good point to write to your ally Nova and ask for help, because you can no longer achieve victory (or stave off defeat) without assistance.
• Eventually, the war ends in whatever manner. Once wars are concluded, it is only natural for new ones to begin. If Thalmarkin isn’t engaged, there is no reason why they can’t then pursue their retaliatory war.

In the end, we want players (especially Rulers) to take a moment to consider the OOC implications of declaring war. We are all responsible for making this game fun. Winning/losing wars and having realms destroyed is part of that fun. Ganging up and bullying a realm is not.

Hopefully this clarifies the intent behind the War Dec system. We very much encourage any questions or discussions on the topic here.