We make War that we may ascend in peace
- Misquoted Aristotle
War & Peace:
Diplomacy is key to success in Arkheim. Look around you on the map and you will see dozens of neighboring Realms. Each of them has its own goals, strategies, and intentions, just like you. Can you benefit from each other? Or are you standing in each other's way? In a world where you can't know what other Realms are up to, it's important to have allies who can cover your back and help you fight mutual enemies. You know what they say: "My enemy's enemy is my friend" (at least sometimes).
Diplomatic Statuses
The War&Peace system allows you to set diplomatic statuses. Diplomatic statuses are extremely important for your Realm members (and for other Realms) to know what your relationship is towards those Realms. There are four statuses:
- Neutral: This status is the default. It allows Realms to attack (Raid) each other and with each raid get 50% of the Orbs stored in a Tower.
- War: A moderated war is fought between two Realms. To win the war a certain amount of the enemy's Orbs or towers must be claimed. The loser of the war will have to pay tribute to the winner.
- NAP: During NAP, it is not possible to start attacks on the other Realms towers
- Truce: This status cannot be selected by a Realm. The Truce status is the time of peace after a war is over. It is a 5 days period for Realms to recover and for the loser to pay tribute to the winner after the war.
Changing a diplomatic status
- At the beginning of the game, all Realms are in a neutral status towards each other.
- The option to change the diplomatic status becomes available as of Midiata (island2).
- The status can be changed by a Realm Leader
- Initiating a status change will always start a timer before the new status applies.
Status: Neutral
The neutral status is the starting-status for all Realms. In neutral status...
- Other towers can be raided, but not claimed.
- Towers can be destroyed only while they are in construction phase. The same goes for Portals in donation and construction phase.
- During a tower raid, only 50% of the Orbs stored in the tower can be stolen.
Status: Non-Aggression Pact
A Non-Aggression Pact is a diplomatic status between two Realms that prohibits attacks against each other.
- A leader can request a NAP to another Realm. Leaders of the other Realm can accept or decline it. The moment the NAP is accepted it is active.
- While the NAP is active, it is not possible to start attacks on the other Realm (except for Towers or Portals in construction/donation phase).
- A Realm can have a NAP with up to 3 other Realms at the same time.
- A NAP can be canceled. The cancellation of a NAP immediately notifies the other Realm and initiates an 8-hours timer. After 8 hours, the status changes back to Neutral.
Status: War
If you are ready to go all-out against another Realm, you declare war to them.
- War can be declared only if the diplomatic status between the respective Realms is neutral.
- To declare war, the own and the enemy Realm both must own at least 6 Towers and 2000 Orbs.
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Every Realm can declare at least one war at a time. The war declaration is free if the enemy Realm has more War Potential than the own realm.
- If the enemy Realms is weaker than your Realm (=if they have less War Potential), declaring war on them will cost you some Ark Energy.
- If your Realm wants to declare multiple wars, it also costs additional Ark Energy (see description of Ark Energy further below).
- Each declared war can last for up to 5 days.
- Once the war is declared, an 8 hours timer begins. The other Realm is notified about the war declaration immediately. When the timer runs out, the diplomatic status changes to War and the two Realms can now conquer each other’s Towers.
- A Realm has the option to abandon the war by surrendering. In that case, the surrendering Realm loses immediately. The surrender can be triggered only 48 hours after the beginning of a war.
Surrendering
Once a Realm decides to surrender, an 8-hours timer begins.
During those 8 hours, the surrendering Realm can no longer attack but only defend their own towers.
War Goals
A Realm wins a war by being the first to reach one of the two following War Goals:
Option 1: Victory by Orb Raids
The War is won if a Realm steals a certain amount of Orbs from the enemy. The needed number of Orbs to be looted is 25% of the number of own Orbs (at the beginning of the war), but never less than 1000, and never more than 50% of the enemy’s total number of Orbs (Overflowing Orbs do count towards this number).
Option 2: Victory by Tower Conquers
The War is won if a Realm conquers a certain number of enemy Towers. The needed number of Towers to be conquered is 15% of the number of own Towers (at the beginning of the war), but never less than 3 and never more than 50% of the enemy’s total number of Towers.
The first Realm to successfully achieve its goal wins the war. The goals are based on the absolute number of Orbs/Towers acquired from the enemy, not the difference between them.
Possible outcomes of a war:
A war is over if:
- One of the Realms reaches a goal and wins.
- No Realm reaches the goal after 5 days. In this case, the aggressor Realm that declared the war loses. The defender wins.
- One of the Realms surrenders. In that case, the other Realm wins.
- One of the Realms uses Retreat. Once the Realm retreats, it loses automatically.
- One of the Realms does not have enough Orbs or Towers anymore for the other Realm to be able to win. In that case, the other Realm wins automatically.
- One of the Realms ascends during the war, leading to a tie.
- One of the Realms gets dissolved. In that case, the other Realm wins.
- The endgame begins before a war is over. The war ends automatically in a tie.
Special Rules during a War:
- Damage dealt on Towers/Portals will now be doubled (halving the conquering times)
- A Realm that declared war on another Realm cannot get any new members during the War period.
- Furthermore, a war cannot be declared while a Realm is ascending or retreating
After the War: Truce
Once the war is over, a War Chest goes to both Realms (see description below). Furthermore, a 5 days Truce period is established between the 2 Realms. The Truce period works like a NAP: Aggressive missions are not possible, unless to towers/portals in construction/donation phase. During the Truce period the Realm that lost the war has to pay Tribute to the Realm that won (see description below).
Beware that missions started during a war will not cancel if the diplomatic status changes. So if a conquer or raid mission is launched during a war, it will be finished, even if the diplomatic status changes while the troops are on the way.
Multiple wars on a big scale through Ark Energy:
Ark Energy is gained through PvP, like Soul Energy. The difference is: Soul Energy is for individual use of the player, while Ark Energy is a currency for the entire Realm, used for Realm-wide decisions and can be spent only by leaders. For now, Ark Energy can be spent on two actions:
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Additional Wars: Each Realm has one "War Slot" to declare war. For additional Wars the Realm wants to declare at the same time, the Realm has to pay Ark Energy. The amount of Ark Energy it has to pay is dependent on the island and on the number of wars that were already declared by this Realm and are still running. The Ark Energy costs to declare war depend on three factors:
- The number of the island (higher island = higher costs)
- The War Potential of the enemy Realm (the weaker the enemy Realm, the higher the Ark Energy costs).
- The number of wars your Realm has already declared and that are still ongoing.
- Tower influence upgrades: A Realm can upgrade one or more Towers once to turn them to "Enhanced Towers" and give them 2 extra fields of influence in all directions. The Ark Energy costs for this are exponentially based on the number of Enhanced Towers the Realm already owns. On higher islands, the costs start at a higher price point. Enhanced Towers that are conquered by an enemy, keep their Enhanced Tower status.
Note that the Realm's Ark Energy is reset after the Realm ascends to a new island.
The War Chest
In addition to the loot a Realm gains from its enemy during a war, there is a reward for all players who participated in the war (from its beginning to the end. So, players who joined a Realm while it was at war, won't receive the chest).
The War Chest contains XP and Soul Energy that is distributed between all Realm members. The content of the War Chest is influenced by the ratio in War Potential between both sides, as well as the outcome of the war.
Calculation of XP and Soul Energy in the War Chest
All XP and Soul Energy that is earned during the war (by both Realms) gets summed up in a pot.
The stronger the Realm that you fight against, the bigger will be the share for you. If you win a war, you will also get an additional +50% of your share ontop.
P = Total content of the pot gathered during the war
R = WP relation between the 2 Realms (Higher WP divided by lower WP)
n = War result; can be 1 or 1,5
The final percentage of XP and Ark Energy inside the War Chest for the Realms is:
For the stronger Realm: [0,5 + (R-1) x (-0,2)] x n
For the weaker Realm: [0,5 + (R-1) x 0,2] x n
(n = 1,5 in case of victory, otherwise n = 1)
This total amount of XP and Soul Energy provided to each Realm will be divided by 15 (even if there are not 15 members in the Realm) and distributed to the members.
Additional reward
Along with the War Chest, every player who participated in the full war receives a tome.
Players of the losing Realm receive an uncommon tome.
Players of the winning Realm receive an epic tome.
The Tribute
After a war ends, a 5 days Truce period begins. During this Truce period, the winner receives a Tribute from the loser. 20% of the production of all supplies of the losing Realm will be transferred to a Tribute Chest which is located in the center of your town. The Tribute chest works like a supply. As soon as one resource-cycle is complete, the Tribute can be picked up by you, and a new cycle begins.
Each Realm can only lose a maximum of 20% of Tribute to other Realms. How the 20% is distributed between those other Realms depends on how many own troops were defeated by which of the other Realms.
- During each war, the XP value of the troops lost to each Realm is saved.
- All Realms that gain Tribute from the Realm that lost, gain a share of the 20% based on the weight of the saved losses in XP.
- The Tribute payment stays active for the same time as the Truce Period between the two Realms.
Example:
Realm A has lost a war against Realm B and Realm C and has to pay Tribute to both.
During the War:
- Realm B killed troops from Realm A worth 200K XP.
- Realm C killed troops from Realm A worth 400K XP (twice as many).
--> As a result, Realm C also receives twice as much Tribute. (So 33% goes to Realm B, while 66% goes to Realm C)
-->From the perspective of Realm A. The Realm pays a total of 20% of the own supply production, of which 1/3 goes to Realm B, and 2/3 goes to Realm C)
How does the Tribute Chest work?
- For each war a Realm wins, it gets a Tribute Chest for the time of the Truce Period.
- It works like a supply that contains all troop-types and resource-types in one.
- The incoming Tribute can be picked up in the center of the town.
Rules during Endgame
During Endgame, the total war breaks loose. All Realms will be at war with all other Realms. Other diplomatic statuses are not possible.
Important Rule change for Portals
With the introduction of the War & Peace system, the territory of the Portal will have to be connected to the Ark in order to function. A Portal that gets ‘cut-off’ from the Realm’s main territory (e.g. because an enemy conquered some towers that lie between the Portal and the Ark) will stop functioning for the time it is disconnected. However, it will still be possible to station troops at disconnected Portals (but they will have to walk).
Replies 28
Violet#II
one word:
terrible
Yarri#II
I watch from the side as the game turns more and more into a casual farm. Keep it up.
Djisin#II
First impression: Interesting and very complicated
After some discussion with other people will provide deeper opinion
deepstrike#II
I understand this will give some of the smaller realms a chance instead of being smashed by the big realms but they can do that already by just staying one island down, casual realms should not be able to get to Island 4.
the system with declaring war and notice period and victory conditions is interesting and planning before a war starts would be a lot more important. when you attack you will want to hit the victory condition as quickly as possible to end the war and move onto the next one. it might be that will need to run 2 servers,one hardcore and one war&peace to give options
The war totals with max people fighting and wp needs a bit more thought. it can be used defensively so for example 6 small realm just declare war on each other if one of them thinks they will be attacked and no-one can declare war on them for 5 days so all their towers are safe from conquer
at moment on the server with the limit on 2x wp ITF can only declare war on 9 realms and most of them are not close, without being able to conquer towers between ITF and the enemy that we want to attack because we cant conquer any towers from smaller realm enroute could make it very difficult to get some wars going. simmilar you cant give your ally a tower in your realm to place a portal to get their troops into the war which limits planning a lot, might have to set it so with alliance status you can build a portal in your allies area of influence
Pete#II(1)
If you implement this, you will loose a lot of players like myself who spend money here. It's supposed to be a war game, and the description was what attracted me to it.
"UNITE IN A REALM WITH PLAYERS FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD AND LEAD IT TO WAR OVER TERRITORIAL CONTROL AND POWERFUL ORBS."
Well that's not what the game will be is it?
I and many others will not play Sim City and Farmville for 8 weeks just for 2 weeks of war.
Why bother with troops? May as well toss a coin for any wars before Endgame to decide who wins and shake hands after.
Quite simply, you will manage to destroy what is a perfectly good game as it is.
Snikmorder#II
Next server?
Twelve#II
Well. I am carefully optimistic about this change.
I don't think it's a change like the introduction of Soul Energy where everyone knew it would make the game better. But it is also not something like the moonphases.
Negative points:
- It feels restrictive, especially when you are used to have "unlimited" options
To be fair, any solution that tackle the "diplomacy rules"-problem would have been restrictive in one shape or form. Still, it DOES feel restrictive. Maybe we get used to it.
- The WP-protection is doing nothing positive but is highly abusable.
You already made a ton of rules to protect realms who lose a war. This additional "safety-net" is overkill and can too easily be used to circumvent the entire system.
- As usual you overnerfed when you limited the number wars a realm can have to ONE and additionally significantly weakened the portals. Both actions have the same target and the same result, so as usual they will compound each other. Now you are again in a situation that you changed two very significant parts of the game, making it very hard to determine which nerf was better and potentially you have changed the game into the exact opposite from what it was before.
Positive points:
- It will (heavily) reduce teaming up on good realms.
I know that's not be the intention, but it will be a result. And that's something I like because getting beaten by a bunch of noobs is frustrating.
- Losing a war doesn't mean total annihilation as it does now.
That's probably the main intention behind the change. That you can now lose a war but barely get hurt by it (only losing ~15% of your towers, if you have as many as your opponent).
- It COULD lead to less diplomacy.
It's less important than before to talk to all your neighbors all the time. Since teaming up becomes significantly less profitable the need to do it all the time diminishes.
Another reason diplomacy could get reduced is that a realm might attack 3-4 different realms per island now, instead of 1-2. If you plan on attacking all your neighbors anyway, you don't need to bother talking with them beforehand.
- Formalized war gets rewarded
I like the idea of the treasure chest. Increase the basic-XP of all the units though, I don't like that the acc-level is to 90% determined by your economy. Having good, individual fights should be WAY more rewarding. Maybe instead (or additionally) of using the WP as a multiplier, use the win/loss ratio of the destroyed res and the res you lost in the fight. For example if you lose 10k res and destroy 30k with it, it should be worth A LOT more than losing 60k res and killing 30k res.
Neutral points:
- Endgame is still FFA
Maybe it's good that way. Especilly with the new Endgame you don't necessarily need many towers/supplies you need Fallen, so ... I guess keeping that open is neither good nor bad, probably more on the good side. 1 week diplo instead of 8 is palatable.
- "Tower wars" might become a problem
I'm not looking forward to all neighboring realms trying to steal us supplies by stupidly building towers at our border which we cannot retaliate/deny to. But since your system does allow for attacking/conquering towers that are under construction, I think it's a workable solution. We have to actually play with the new rules to judge that.
Points that would make those changes "even" better:
- Additional statistics
We need a static in which we can see at one glance all the current wars that are fought on this island AND how the wars are going. That means the current progress and how many troops (in res) each side killed the other side.
- Getting additional Ark Power and SE is nice but it needs to have a significantly bigger impact.
To make ark power matter you need to invent intelligent, impactful and fun rewards if you realm is actually ahead of the others. You could either go with the current system that every realm-level gives you a (more impactful) bonus or you change is slightly that being #1 in ark power gives you a certain bonus, #2 and #3 a different (weaker) bonus, #4-10 again another bonus, #10-20 something, etc.
Also: Make the freaking runes WAY stronger and add additional useful uses for SE.
- Tower slots
Since your new system severely reduces the amount of towers a realm can realistically conquer, I think it is time to make a "little" change regarding those tower-slots. Conquered towers should not count towards the already limited towers a realm can place.
For example on island2 you can build 45 towers. Add 15 towers (1 slot per member) that can only be filled by conquering.
First argument against that innovation:
Could be used for pushing
Counterargument 1: Working together is a way "bigger push" than getting 7 towers. And that is and was always allowed.
Counterargument 2: You only have 15 conquer-slots, you don't win much by getting 7 of those slots without fighting.
Counterargument 3: The realm who offers those towers must be really really dedicated to see that other realm win to give those towers away for free, considering how cramped the Arkheim map is. It's not guaranteed that they have the space to re-build them on the other side of their realm.
Counterargument 4: At least it's in the open, everyone can see you embarrass yourself and you therefore lose reputation. Not sure it's worth it ~ (I'm sure some realms will do so anyway, but as I said, the advantage they get is manageable)
Second argument against:
What happens if you lose 7 towers in a war and then manage to re-conquer some of them?
Answer: As the original owner of the tower you can choose to either claim them with the conquer-slots or with the regular tower slots.
/edit: I doubt this change will lead to less wars. It's far more likely it will lead to more wars which are less fatal. It does take away that you are able to completely destroy your opposition - but many people disliked that anyway (not me though).
/edit2: The 12 hour timer during a war-declaration is key. Otherwise your opponent gets ready, pre-plans his attack for the night, conquers the towers before you opponent wakes up (half conquering time) and the victim lost the war without ever having the opportunity to even use their troops. Taking the 12h away would undermine the 'expressed' intent of this update - to have fair 1on1 fights.
Yarri#II
Golden words! I would frame it and put it somewhere on the homepage as the best review ever. But you know what the problem is? In thinking. The people who make this game have a very peculiar mindset!
There are games like Starborne where the first thing developers do is think: how to make the game more interesting and exciting, and of course more convenient for the player. Make more different tactics and strategies. This is the first and main idea with which they start any changes. And that is why the active audience in this game is 10 times more, because there are really few such games now.
What is the main idea of Arnheim developers? So that no one can stick their head out of the crowd. To make the game as casual as possible. So that players have the same opportunities regardless of their skill level and the time they spend on the game. To make it impossible to win and lose here. So that a more active and experienced player does not in any case have the opportunity to somehow dominate. (The same goes for Alliances)
Therefore, I have long said - gentlemen, do not mislead the players. You are making a 100% casual farm, please remove any mention that this is a war game.
Yarri#II
Twelve I agree with you in many ways, but not now. The problem of the need for excessive diplomacy could be solved. To do this, you could remove at least half of the restrictions that are everywhere. Yes, more active players would have dominated, but this is the element of competition. And we could easily fight against multiple realms at the same time.
The last change that was made successfully is the forge of souls. At one point, I even thought that the developers finally heard the players and changed the concept. But - no, it was rather an exception to the rule. All they do now is remove any competitive elements from the game.
Ravendell#II
Another server - another change in the wrong direction. Guess thats another round i'll skip.
Sadly i dont think the devs understand what made this game unique in the first place, because if they developed those areas some of the problems would have solved themselves. Oh well.