War Rules

War on CinderCivs utilizes a special set of rules as to allow for a dynamic progression that corresponds to roleplay and fair combat. The war system is designed to emulate a strategy game layout with arranged battles happening over tiles of various levels of development.

§ Declaring War

Wars are declared between nations with at least one urban tile under their control. A declaration of war must be made in a manner that is consistent with prior roleplay—metagaming or failRP justifications are not permitted.

In order to declare a war, the attacking nation must provide the following:

• The general area they intend to attack (e.g. a region or town).
• A tilemap clearly showing their current territories relevant for the war.

The area declared to be under attack go from Controlled to Contested.

Once war is declared, the defending nation is expected to submit their own tilemap and acknowledge the contested area within one week. If neither side submits the required information within this timeframe, the war is automatically cancelled.

If only one side complies, and the other fails or refuses to submit the required tilemap or contested zone, the staff team may intervene and force a battle to occur to the compliant party’s advantage.

§ Tiles and Tilemaps

The entire field of war is divided into distinct tiles. Tiles vary based on their status and their level of development.

Tile Status

• Controlled – The default state of a tile where no war actions have taken place; all is fair, anything may be built.
• Contested – A battle is declared over such tile. Only minor alterations (such as decorations) and specific defenses (e.g. trench lines, campsites as acknowledged by the war monitor) are allowed.
• Occupied – A contested tile that has switched ownership. After 7 days in this state, the tile automatically reverts to Controlled.
• Mixed – Occurs when a draw happens; the war monitor subdivides the tile into occupied sub-tiles in accordance with the sides involved.

Tile Development

Tiles are also classified by their development level:

• Fort – An urban tile fortified with walls and redstone gates as defined entrances.
• Urban – Major cities, large towns, or city districts.
• Suburban – Outskirts of cities, villages, or areas with moderate development.
• Rural – Areas between tiles, with minimal development.

Additional Rules

• Every participant must start in the urban tiles they control. Non-members of nations at war must also start in their own urban tiles; if none exist, they are disqualified from participating in the war until they acquire one.
• Forts can be breached by declaring a separate battle over the entrance. Note that such a battle does not result in any territorial gain.
• Forts must be opened before they can be used as spawn tiles for an attack during the battle.
• Rural tiles can be attacked unless they border a fort.
• Tiles can be upgraded by one development level per war, but they cannot be upgraded into forts.
• Tiles with redstone entrances that do not qualify as forts cannot be locked during battle, with exceptions dictated by the war monitor.
• No new tiles can be created during the war, nor can any existing tiles outside of the submitted tilemaps be added after tilemaps are verified.
• Tiles cannot feature excessively punishing defenses that waste player time or force impractical movement (e.g. requiring players to crouch or crawl to enter).

§ Organizing the War

Every battle on the server must occur at a time either:

• Agreed upon by both sides of the war, or
• Appointed by staff if no agreement can be reached.

The first battle of the war must take place within 10 days of the war declaration, and subsequent battles must take place no later than 10 days after. Purposefully delaying battles or neglecting to respond to scheduling attempts may result in disqualification from the war.

War Monitors

Each war must have at least one war monitor. This individual may be:

• Appointed by mutual agreement between all warring sides, or
• Assigned by staff if no consensus is reached.

The war monitor's responsibilities include:

• Ruling on disputes and edge cases during the war.
• Spectating battles to ensure fair play.
• Disqualifying players who violate war rules.
• Officially starting and ending each battle.

Fighter lists

All participating factions must privately send a list of their fighters to the war monitor before the battle begins. This list must remain consistent unless a player is permanently removed or replaced with permission from the monitor.

§ Initiative

Initiative determines which side in a war gets to choose the location of each battle.

At the start of the war, both sides receive 1 initiative point. The attacker goes first by default, spending their initiative to declare the first battle.

What is Initiative?

Initiative represents the momentum of a war. A nation uses initiative to decide the next tile to be contested.

Initiative is spent when a side declares a battle. If the initiating side wins the battle, they retain initiative and may declare the next one. If they lose, the initiative passes to the opposing side, who then chooses the location of the next battle.

Initiative Rules

• Both sides start with 1 initiative.
• The attacker always spends the first initiative point.
• Only the side with initiative may declare battle locations.
• Losing a battle transfers initiative to the opposing side.

§ Battle Conduct & Restrictions

All battles have specific mechanical limitations and restrictions. All participants are expected to follow these rules to ensure fairness, clarity, and competitive integrity.

Prohibited Items

The following items are strictly forbidden in all battles:

• Maces
• Ender Pearls
• Chorus Fruits
• Wind Charges
• End Crystals
• Respawn Anchors
• Riptide Tridents
• Slow Falling arrows (not potions)

Using these items during war battles will result in immediate disqualification from the current battle and may incur further penalties from staff or the war monitor.

Block Interaction Rules

Players may not place or break blocks during battle in and around contested tiles. The only exceptions to this are:

• Placing or breaking beds (for setting spawn)
• Placing or accessing shulker boxes

The following actions are specifically forbidden:

• Using placed blocks to create barriers or parkour routes.
• Using or setting up stasis chambers or other teleportation mechanisms.

Raiding Rules

Players listed on a side’s official fighter list are permitted to raid contested and occupied tiles during active battles. This includes:

• Looting any containers (chests, barrels, etc.)
• Breaking door blocks (wooden or iron doors only — not redstone contraptions)
• Interacting with redstone mechanisms
• Killing any mobs within the tile, including:
  • Pets
  • Villagers
  • Livestock and other passive mobs

These actions are only permitted within tiles that are currently being fought over and tiles deemed occupied. Raiding unrelated tiles or exploiting war permissions outside of battle zones is considered griefing and is subject to punishment.

§ Troop Movement and Node Control

What is a Node?

A Node is a subdivision of a nation’s territory, centered on one or more urban tiles and containing nearby suburban and rural tiles. Nodes form the basis for movement, reinforcement, and territorial control during war.

• All nations must define their node layout in their tilemap submission upon declaration of war.
• Each node must be adjacent to at least one other node (unless it's a border region or coastal/isolated enclave).
• Nodes may contain urban, suburban, rural, or fort tiles, but must include at least one urban tile.

Deployment Rules

• At the start of war, each fighter selects a Node to begin from.
• Fighters must spawn in a controlled urban tile within their declared node.
• Once selected, a fighter’s node may only be changed after each official battle, and only to an adjacent node.

Node Movement

• After every official battle, players may move to an adjacent node that is not encircled.
• Movement is not allowed mid-battle or during unofficial engagements.
• A node is considered encircled if it has no adjacent nodes that are under friendly.

Encirclement Rules

Encirclement occurs when all adjacent nodes to a given node are captured or contested by enemy forces.

• Players in an encircled node:
  • Must remain within the encircled node for the duration of the war or until the node is liberated.
  • May still participate in any battles elsewhere, but must spawn from a valid urban tile in the encircled node.
  • Cannot move to a different node until a friendly path is re-established.

• If a fighter in an encircled node is defeated in an official battle:
  • They are declared a Prisoner of War.
  • Prisoners of War may not participate in further battles unless released via official agreement, prisoner exchange, or the liberation of the node.
  • Optional roleplay consequences (interrogation, ransom, etc.) may be declared with staff oversight.

Node Collapse

• If all urban tiles in a node are captured, remaining fighters in that node must:
  • Retreat to the nearest friendly node at the next available opportunity (if possible), or
  • Be disqualified from further battles until reestablishment.
• Fighters in such a node may not declare attacks or initiate movement unless control is reestablished.

Summary of Node Mechanics

Mechanic	Description
Starting Node	Each fighter declares a starting node and must spawn in its urban tile.
Movement	Only allowed between adjacent nodes after official battles.
Encirclement	Prevents node switching; forces spawns in the encircled node.
Defeat in Encirclement	Fighter becomes a Prisoner of War.
Node Collapse	Fighters must retreat or become disqualified.