Good morning Sapience!

First up! The city guardians have been distinctly buffed, good luck!

Secondly we have a big overhaul to city vs city war! This is going to get a little verbose...

Most importantly of all, citizens and soldiers are not open PK during wartime.

Let me say that again for the people in the back.

Most importantly of all, citizens and soldiers are not open PK during wartime.

On to the new systems at hand!

There are two aspects to this update. First is a background hostility metric that tracks every city vs every other city. This is affected by hostile acts, and continual hostile actions can result in natively setting your city hostile to another!

Cities can declare their relations to each other city using the CITY SET RELATIONS command, and review the existing relations using ORG RELATIONS ALLIED and ORG RELATIONS HOSTILE <city>. Possible relations include Allied, Neutral, and Hostile.

Mutually hostile does not automatically mean you are at war. This allows cities to declare their political stance without creating perpetual war scenarios.

The following actions generate hostility:
- guard kills
- tank detonations
- sanctions gained
- killing citizens inside a city
- sinking org-owned ships

This hostility will slowly decay every Achaean month, and decay at an increased rate if there has been zero hostile actions by the city for three months.

When the hostility from one city (city A) towards another city (city B) reaches a certain amount, city A will automatically declare itself hostile to city B, and the CITY SET RELATIONS command can no longer be used until the hostilities drop naturally.

When city A is declared hostile towards city B, be it through use of the CITY SET RELATIONS command or by acts of hostility, the following happens:
- citizens of B get bonus xp on denizen kills in city A and its allied areas.
- citizens of B can't get quests in A's allied areas.
- citizens of B don't lose infamy when dying in A'a allied areas.

Conversely, if city A declares alliance with city B, then:
- citizens of A get higher xp loss if they die to a denizen loyal to city B.
- citizens of A can't gain sanction for raiding.

If cities A and B are mutually allied, then:
- non-enemied citizens can call for help in either city
- non-enemied citizens get bonus xp for quests in the allied city and its areas
- non-enemied citizens can defend city without XP loss during raids (but they also count for tank/sanction kills)

Onto WAR DECLARATIONS!

The city leader or War Minister of a city has the ability to issue a war challenge to another city using the CITY WAR DECLARE <city> command. Once issued, the other city has three months to either CITY WAR ACCEPT <city> or CITY WAR DECLINE <city>. You will need to CONFIRM either option before it takes effect.

If the other city accepts, the two cities are at war from that point onwards (see below for implications).

If the other city declines, it may need to pay a penalty depending on the current hostile status.

CITY WAR DECLARATIONS shows the unanswered declarations.

In particular, if city B declines a challenge issued by city A, the penalty is:
* None if B is not hostile to A
* 250k if B is hostile to A, but the overall hostilities have been low
* 500k if B has been highly hostile towards A, but A has not been highly hostile towards B
* 2M if both cities have been highly hostile to each other

The exact penalty is shown when attempting to decline a war challenge, and the declining leader is required to confirm it before it takes effect.

Practically, this means that if a city is actively hostile to another, but then turns down a war challenge, it will have to pay.

After a challenge is declined, city A cannot challenge city B again for 2 Achaean years.

If the city does not have enough money in its coffers or security/war funds, the debt will be remembered and any money received by the city will be automatically paid to the debtor until the debt is paid off in full. Outstanding debts are shown in CITY ECONSTATUS, if any.

WAR

Once declared a war lasts for 2 Achaean years. Participating cities may choose to CITY WAR EXTEND <other city> to extend the duration by another two years - this takes effect when both cities have done so.

An active war has the following implications:
- Room repairs (both automatic and manual) are disabled
- Retaliation raids do not work - only sanctioned ones do
- Kills for tanks and sanctions count from anywhere
- Citizens and allies of involved organisations count towards sanctions and tanks
- Soldiers are NOT OPEN PK
- An automatic bounty is placed on the city council and the war minister of each city

The winner is determined based on performing the following actions:
- destroying a room
- dismantling a tank
- killing a city soldier (anywhere) - high-ranked soldiers count for more
- slaying the city guardian
- fulfilling the automatic war bounties
- causing city morale losses
- sinking org-owned ships

A list of wars is shown on CITY WAR LIST, including the current status (duration and who is winning).

A global War newsboard is available to everyone enlisted in a city army, and all important war-related events are posted here, including a summary of war activies each Achaean month.


ENDING A WAR

A war ends when its timer runs out and the cities do not agree on an extension.
Additionally, the leader or war minister of the losing city has the option to CITY WAR SURRENDER <city> to surrender and end the war.

After the war ends, the following happens:
- hostility metrics are wiped
- the loser pays 5 million gold to the winner (or ends up in debt, see above for how that works)
- the victor's banners are placed at key points in the losing city
- an accolade is gained by the winner
- morale loss for the loser

After the war, there is a two Achaean year period during which the two cities cannot declare war on each other.

A whole load of HELP files have been updated for this information including HELP PK, HELP CITY LEADERS, HELP ARMIES, HELP CITY DESTRUCTION, HELP WAR MINSTRY, and HELP WAR has been created!

Finally, in case you made it this far and missed this:
Citizens and soldiers are not open PK during wartime.


Penned by My hand on the 13th of Valnuary, in the year 820 AF.