Warfare

The governing document for formal warfare between nations. Anything not declared and approved here is just ordinary PvP and is covered by the Rulebook.

1Definitions

• War — a conflict formally declared between two or more nations.
• Battle — a specific armed engagement that takes place as a theater of a war.
• Undeclared engagements — handled under ordinary PvP rules.

2Casus Belli

1. For your casus belli to be approved, you must substantiate the war claim with evidence — screenshots, videos, Discord messages, or Minecraft chat logs.
2. A nation must have a valid reason for declaring war. Valid reasons include, but are not limited to:
   • Attacks on your citizens
   • Griefing within your territory
   • Breaking an existing treaty or agreement
   • Failure to pay an agreed debt or war reparation
   • A declaration of independence from your nation
   • Excessive toxicity

3Requirements

1. Claims must be within 1,000 blocks of each other to declare war.
2. Claims must be of similar value. A claim that is only a dirt shack cannot declare war on a full-scale metropolis.

4Declaration of War

1. Before anything happens in-game, war declarations are reviewed by staff through our Discord ticket system. Staff may deny a declaration if the casus belli is insufficient or invalid.
2. In the ticket, the belligerents discuss war goals and the outcomes for the victor and the loser.
3. You may request a specific war mode or goal when filing (see §§5–8). Wars using King of the Hill mode must be scheduled beforehand, at a time both parties agree on.
4. Once a declaration is approved, it is filed in-game with /nation <your_nation> war declare <target>. Filing automatically triggers a 2-day grace period for preparations.
5. During the grace period, both parties may agree on stakes — war reparations, tributes, looting or no looting — regardless of the war goal.
6. Once war goals are established, both parties must work together to find a battle time that is convenient for both. Staff may offer times but will not choose the time.
7. Alliance agreements must be publicly announced to be considered valid.
8. Refusing to engage after a war has been formally declared (“war dodging”) is a punishable offense.

5Rules of Engagement

1. The general PvP restrictions in the Rulebook apply here.
2. Potions should not be used in wartime.
3. Minimaps and maps that display the location or names of players are not permitted.
4. To engage in a war, a player must have at least 2 hours of playtime and a first sign-in on the server at least one week before the declaration.
5. Players who join the server for the sole purpose of fighting in wars (“PvP-loggers”) will be banned.
6. Looting enemy death chests is allowed unless agreed otherwise.
7. Excessive toxicity in wartime can result in removal from that conflict, independent of any other moderation action.
8. Nations are responsible for their members' behavior and are expected to uphold community standards. If a nation is found to be generally toxic, staff may decide the outcome of the conflict in the opposing party's favor.
9. Nations must not exploit bugs or technical loopholes in the Lands plugin to avoid the consequences of war (e.g. withdrawing from the bank when war is imminent).
10. Belligerents must constantly contest the field of battle for the duration of the war. Scoring a point and then intentionally abandoning the attack or defense is not permitted.
11. Mass griefing is not permitted — this includes lava casting, obsidian walling, and flood machines.

6War Modes

Skirmish

Score points by killing enemy players and capturing their land with capture flags. Whoever reaches the target score first wins. If no one reaches it within 36 hours, whoever is ahead when time runs out wins; a tie is a draw.

Enemies can enter your claimed land during a Skirmish war, but they cannot tear it apart. Block breaking and placing is limited to climbing aids — ladders, vines, TNT, redstone blocks, buttons, levers, pressure plates, and scaffolding.

King of the Hill (KotH)

Each team places a control point in its own land during preparation, then scores by holding the enemy's point. Both lands become battlegrounds: the enemy may break and place any blocks to reach your point. Points accrue continuously while a side holds the enemy's control point.

7Capturing Territory

Territory changes hands in two separate ways during a war. Both are worth understanding before you fight one.

Capture flags

Attackers craft a flag and place it in the defender's territory. Holding the surrounding area for a set time captures that chunk, which transfers directly to the attacker. This can happen in any war, regardless of the war goal.

• Defenders can fight back for a contested flag — holding the point themselves reverses the attacker's progress.
• Each side can have up to 3 capture flags active at once, with a cooldown between placements.

Capture blocks

A capture block is a craftable beacon placed in the defender's land. If the attackers control the area immediately around it for a set time, they capture that chunk and every adjacent claimed chunk, scoring points. If the defenders destroy the beacon or repel the attackers, the capture block is destroyed and the defenders score points.

8War Goals

These describe what happens after the war concludes, on top of whatever territory was exchanged via capture flags.

1. Raid — the winner gets a short window of access to the loser's land (about 1 hour after the war). No claims or bank balances change.
2. Skirmish — the winner takes a cut of the loser's land bank: 75% on a fought win, 40% if the loser surrenders.
3. Annexation — the loser's war-involved lands are annexed by the winner outright.
4. Vassalage — the loser's lands are absorbed into the winner's nation as restricted members, paying elevated taxes to their new overlord.
5. Independence — if a vassal wages war against its overlord and wins, it becomes fully independent. If it loses or draws, it is re-subjugated and cannot try again for a week.

9Post-War

1. After a war concludes, both parties are expected to honor the agreed-upon stakes. Failure to do so can lead to further consequences as approved by staff.
2. Depending on the war goal, the losing party is protected from war for a period:
   • Raid — 3 days for both sides
   • Skirmish — 7 days for both sides
   • Annexation — 3 days for the loser
   • Vassalage — none
   • Independence — 7 days for the newly-freed vassal