War System User Guide

OVERVIEW

• Sieges are between nations - who attack, and towns - who defend
• A nation can start a siege against a town at any time (except when a town is recently besieged, new, or peaceful)
• Towns cannot fall due to war costs (they can only go 'bankrupt', preserving the town completely but blocking expansion)
• Town structures & stored items remain safe (because town perm protections are unaffected)
• Towns can be captured (allowing nations/empires to to built by force)
• Towns can be plundered (transferring gold from the defeated town to the victorious nation)
• Soldiers keep inventory if killed during a siege (giving all players a chance to stay involved in battles and practice combat skills, regardless of their wealth)
• Soldiers can disappear from the dynmap at any time (unlocking the development and use of both basic & advanced military tactics)
• Spawn camping is prevented (because newly-spawned players are temporarily immune to both receiving and giving damage)
• Casual & cross-timezone players can contribute to most wars (because the siege duration is 3 days)
• Player battle fatigue is moderated (because fighting is organised into 1 hour 'battle sessions' for each player. After each session, the player gets a 10 min. enforced break from combat)
• Peaceful towns can opt out of war (by toggling 'peaceful', a town opts out of war, receiving immunity from siege attacks & taxes. In return, it gets a public /t spawn. Its residents cannot enter siege-zones and its nation choice is more restricted - the town can only join nations with a strong presence in the local area. See below for full details).

ACTIONS

• Go Tactically Invisible - Disappear from the dynmap by 'dual-yielding' the following items:  bow  OR  diamond-sword
• Attack town - As a king or general, place a colored banner in the wilderness close to a town. This action will initiate a new siege on the town. 1G/plot will be deposited into a 'war-chest', which will be automatically recovered by the siege winner. While under siege, the town has PVP forced-on, cannot recruit new residents, cannot claim/unclaim, and only residents can spawn there.
• Gain Siege Points: Banner Control - As a military-ranked attacked or defender, gain banner control for your side, by remaining near the siege-banner (16 blocks horizontally, 6 blocks vertically) for 10 minutes (a glow effect will show you the remaining time). Once your side has banner control, 30 siege-points will be awarded automatically every minute for each player on the banner control list. Players on the list do not have to stay in the siege-zone, but banner is control is lost once all listed players log off.
• Gain Siege Points: Kill Enemy - As an attacker or defender, kill enemy players of military rank, within 250 blocks of the siege-banner. Each kill gives a base 150 siege-points, regardless of how the player was killed. Allies of the attacker/defender can contribute fully.
• Gain Siege Points Bonus: Counter-attack - If your siege opponent has banner control, and one of their soldiers is killed or dies in the siege-zone, the siege-point award is increased by +5% for each soldier on the banner control list.
• Win Siege - Be the side with the best score when the siege-victory-timer hits zero. The attacker requires positive points to win. The defender requires negative points to win.
• Plunder town - As an attacking king or general, after the siege is won, place a chest in the wilderness close to the town. This action will rob the town of 1G/plot, transferring it to the plundering nation.
• Capture town - As an attacking king or general, after the siege is won, place a colored banner in the wilderness close to the town. This action will forcibly add the town to the nation, and will put the town into an 'occupied' state, in which its residents cannot affect siege points.
• Abandon attack - As an attacking king or general, place an all-white banner in the wilderness close to the town.
• Surrender town - As the defending mayor, place an all-white banner anywhere in the town.

COMMANDS

• Assign Town Military Ranks - As a mayor, use the normal ranks system to assign:  guard, sheriff. Both can gain banner control in defence.
• Assign Town Military Ranks - As a king, use the normal ranks system to assign:  guard, captain, general. All can gain banner control in attack. Captains/generals have a leadership aura which affects nearby kill points, and generals can execute siege attack/abandon/invade/plunder.
• View Town Siege Information - View detailed information on a siege affecting the town, using '/t'
• View Nation Siege Information - View a list of sieges the nation is involved in, using '/n'
• Revolt - As a mayor, when 10 days have passed after a siege defeat, revolt and be free of an occupying nation using '/n leave'.
• Ruin Town - As a mayor, deny your town to an invader using '/t delete'. Your town will enter a ruined state for 3 days, after which full deletion occurs. In this state, all perm protections are disabled.
• Reclaim Town - As a resident, if your town falls into ruin, then after 24 hrs. have passed, reclaim it and become mayor, using '/t reclaim'.
• Receive Nation Refund - As a king, if your nation gets deleted for any reason, including capture of your last town, you will be refunded(100%) of the initial setup cost. This can be claimed using '/n refund'.
• Toggle Town Peacefulness - As a mayor, declare your town to be peaceful using '/t toggle peaceful'. The status will be confirmed in 5 days (2 days if the town is new). Once confirmed, the town becomes immune to sieges, taxes, & nationality-spawn-restrictions. It gets a public /t spawn. Nation choice is more restricted, the town can only choose a nation which has a 'guardian town' with 75 chunks. A town qualifies as a guardian town if it has 20 plots or more and is not-peaceful. Peaceful Town residents cannot receive nation-military ranks, and are afflicted by 'war allergy' if they enter a siege zone.

TIPS

1. Fortify towns - Walls are important. During sieges they help stop enemies from infiltrating towns and killing residents.
2. Fortify or abandon outposts - Outposts are important. Towns can be besieged anywhere they have claimed territory.  Make provisions to defend valuable outposts, and abandon the rest.
3. Assign combat ranks - Find residents who can be trusted to fight for your town or nation, and assign them military ranks.
4. Make friends & allies - Diplomacy is critical.  As a mayor, diplomacy can be the difference between your town remaining independant, within a friendly nation, or occupied by an expansionistic empire. As a king, diplomacy can be the difference between your nation succeeding, and its annihilation.
5. Do not remove guards while they are near sieges - As an under-siege mayor, if one of your guards (online or offline) is near the siege banner, ensure they do not get removed as a battle participant (e.g. deranked). If this happens, a siege-point penalty will be applied.
6. Do not remove soldiers while they are near sieges - As an attacking/defending king, if one of your soldiers (online or offline) is near a siege banner, ensure they do not get removed as a battle participant (e.g. deranked). If this happens, a siege-point penalty will be applied.  
7. Make a plan B (Mayor) - As mayor, a siege defeat is rarely a cause for abandoning your town. Your town may lose some money to plunder or be temporarily occupied, but your buildings, items, and townspeople are the same, and still need your wise leadership to prosper.
8. Make a plan B (King) - As king, defeat in battle might be only a temporary setback. If a town has fallen to the enemy, rally your soldiers and allies to defend your remaining towns. If your capital is about to fall, evacuate to a (new or existing) loyal town and declare it the capital (king will change). If your nation does fall, use the nation-cost-refund (80% by default) to build strength so that you can influence world affairs more successfully on your next attempt.