What War is

War is the way nations take each other’s towns. You pay for a reason to fight a specific town, declare a war aimed at it, take it in a battle or a siege, hold it and everything else you can take to build your score, and then end the war by treaty — or have it ended for you when one side pulls far enough ahead.

There is no way to attack a nation without going through all of that. No reason, no war.

The loop

1. Justify — pay for and earn a reason to fight one named town.
2. Declare — spend that reason to start a war, with a deadline to open it.
3. Fight — take battles and sieges while you hold the lead.
4. Score — hold the target town and occupy more of theirs.
5. Peace — write terms, or have them written for you.

The map, as you see it

• Towns — claims owned by a nation, each with a town centre.
• Forts — towns that are not peaceful. They are the ones people fight over hardest, and they are what shelters a nation’s territory.
• Outskirts — the ring of land 4 chunks wide around every claim. Nobody owns it, you can build on it, and this is where battles are fought.

Everything in this guide happens in one of those three places.

The words you will keep meeting

• Casus belli — a paid, justified reason your nation holds to declare a war on one named town.
• War goal — the town named in your casus belli. The war is about that town.
• War score — the running number from -100 to +100 that says who is winning.
• Occupation — holding an enemy town after winning a battle over it.
• FOB — a short-lived forward operating base, a small town you claim far from home to fight from.
• Siege camp — a permanent forward town you claim near a fort to stage a siege from.

The Glossary defines everything else.

The life of a war

• Declared, waiting for the first battle — you have a short window to open the war at its target town, and your side may attack nowhere else until you do.
• War under way — the deadline is gone, both sides can fight wherever they like, and the score starts moving on its own.
• Ended — by a signed peace, or enforced the moment one side reaches total victory.

Nothing is lost

Your war progress belongs to your nation and its towns, not to your session. Disconnect, log out, come back next week — your wars, occupations, reasons to fight, taxes, reparations and forward bases are all exactly where you left them.

See also: Quickstart · Forts, Outskirts & FOBs · Glossary