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 new, peaceful, or was recently sieged)
• 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 <Feature currently disabled while it is being fixed>)
• 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 <Feature currently disabled while it is being fixed>
• 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 150 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.
• Toggle Town Non-Peacefulness - As a mayor, declare your town to be non-peaceful using '/t toggle peaceful'. The status will be confirmed in 5 days (2 days if the town is new).

FAQ

• Q. My town is peaceful and does not wish to fight. What can I do ?
• A. The best option is to toggle your town to peaceful using "/t toggle peaceful". After a few days your town will become completely immune to sieges + taxes. You will also get your own public T spawn, and can spawn-travel regardless of enemy/ally restrictions. In return, your nation choice will be restricted (and may change automatically depending on the geopolitical situation in your local area),

• Q. My entire nation is peaceful and does not wish to fight, but rather wants to continue operating as we always did, using the Towny-Nation feature as something like a 'social club' or 'trading company', and with complete immunity to military conquest. What can I do ?
• A. On Towny-main-server this play-style would likely be supported by some sort of total immunity scheme (details to be confirmed later). On Beta this play-style is not supported.

• Q. Everyone is block-glitching these days. Won't this make walls useless if the system is deployed on towny-main ?
• A. No it won't. Walls will obstruct enemy movements and help you control the battlefield, while also giving you an elevated firing position (for bows).

• Q. How do I use military ranks ?
• A. Only give military ranks to players who can be trusted. Soldiers: Can get banner control, and don't lose items on death. Captains: Same, but with a leadership aura. Generals: Same, but they can use siege management actions: attack/abandon/invade/plunder. WARNING: Do not remove ranks from a soldier while they are in a siege zone (or even logged out there).

• Q. My nation is about to be destroyed, because my last remaining town will be captured. What do I do?
• Option 1 - Create a 'refugee town', and flee there with loyal soldiers. Option 2 - Accept defeat, take the 100% (for now) nation setup cost refund, and plan your next geopolitical move (maybe a revolt of some sort...)