War victory removal

Hi folks,

We’ve a change to the war system today – victory conditions have been removed entirely. This effectively reverts war back to how it functioned before the victory conditions were introduced in 2022.

While we’ve seen some engaging conflicts over the past few years, we’ve also observed that the victory condition system has created more problems than it solved. Too many wars have turned into negative experiences that have stigmatized the entire system, and it’s also become clear that the vast majority of players simply don’t enjoy war when these mechanical win/loss conditions are attached.

The reality is that the number of people genuinely interested in and excited about war victory mechanics is quite small. Rather than continue iterating on a system that most of our playerbase finds unenjoyable, we’ve decided our development efforts are better focused elsewhere for now.

What this means going forward:
– War and military divisions are returning to their role as primarily roleplay and conflict tools. You can still capture territories if you want, and the mechanics remain in place, but there’s no automated victory state that comes from doing so.
– Militia members remain flagged for open PK during wartime, so if you’re not interested in that level of conflict friction, you should leave the militia. War is still war, after all.
– We’ve also removed the automatic war declaration that occurred when attacking enemy troops. Wars will now only begin when someone explicitly uses the DECLARE WAR command.
– Diplomacy and treaties remain the only method to formally end wars.
– The surrender command still works, but as a reminder you can also just make a blank ceasefire treaty to end a war quickly too.

That’s about it for now. The war system remains available for those who want to use it for roleplay and political conflict, just without the mechanical endgame that was causing so many issues. We will, of course, continue to monitor and keep an eye on things as always.

Penned by my hand on Quensday, the 22nd of Celes, in the year 13 AC.