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 can occur between nations with at least one urban tile.

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 must submit their own tilemap within one week. If neither side submits the required information within this timeframe, the war is cancelled.

If only one side complies, the staff team may intervene and force a battle to occur to the compliant party’s advantage.

Third parties (including allies) must submit their own tilemap with at least one urban tile before being allowed to join the war.

§ 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.
• Limited – Urban tiles that, while "controlled" by one side, are disconnected from areas of player activity and cannot be used as spawnpoints for attacks.

Tile Development

Tiles are also classified by their development level:

• Fort – An urban tile fortified with walls and piston doors (minimum 3x3) 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.

Fort Rules

Forts can be either open or closed. Closed forts cannot be captured in a single battle. Instead, forts can be forcibly opened by winning a separate battle over an entrance. Note that such a battle does not result in any territorial gain.

• All forts start closed.
• You cannot use closed forts as a spawn point unless the fort itself is under attack.
• Forts can be opened at any time, but this must be announced publicly.
• To close a fort, you must first announce your intention to do so. After two battles, it will become closed.

Additional Rules

• Every participant must be a member of a party at war and must start each battle in an urban tile of their party.
• Rural tiles cannot be attacked if they border a fort.
• Tiles can be upgraded by one development level every 30 days, which takes 10 days to go into effect.
• Tiles with redstone entrances cannot be closed during battle, with exceptions dictated by the war monitor.
• No new tiles can be created after the nation's tilemap is 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 nations 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 represents the momentum of a war. Initiative is used to decide the location of the next battle.

At the start of the war, the attacker receives the odd initiative and the defender receives the even initiative. The odd initiative is used to declare the locations of battles 1, 3, 5, etc., while the even initiative is used to declare the locations of battles 2, 4, 6, etc.

Using Initiative

Initiative is spent when a side declares a battle. To declare a battle on a tile it must be either:

• Adjacent to your tile
• Adjacent to a rural tile adjacent to your tile
• Directly adjacent to a large waterway (ocean, lake) that a tile you hold also borders

The war monitor may allow additional tiles to be declared on if no tile meets the above criteria.

If the attacker wins the battle, they occupy the tile and retain the initiative. If the attacker loses, the tile becomes controlled by the defender and the defender gains one initiative. If the battle is a draw, the tile becomes controlled by the defender, but the attacker retains the initiative.

After a battle concludes, the holder of the other initiative must declare the next battle location within 48 hours.

If a side holds both initiatives, they have two additional options: 1. Declare on two tiles at once, forcing both battles to occur within the 10-day window 2. Unilaterally end the war. All occupied tiles become controlled.

§ How Battles are Decided

Prior to the start of each battle, players will be assigned to the attacking team or defending team according to the fighter list. Also, a 32x32 area inside the tile will be selected as the capture zone. At the start of the battle, this zone will begin to glow and a bossbar will appear that is 50% filled. The defenders win if the bossbar fully fills, and the attackers win if the bossbar fully empties.

When only one side is present in the capture area, the bossbar shifts one point in their direction each second. If both or neither are present, it will stay still. Killing an enemy fighter will shift it 30 points in your direction.

The total size of the bossbar varies by tile type:

Tile Type	Bossbar Size	Starting Value
Fort	720	360
Urban	720	360
Suburban	600	300
Rural	360	180

This system is implemented using a datapack designed by _Chras.

§ Battle Conduct & War 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

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 Modification

Players may not place or break blocks during battle. However, there are some special cases that can be altered in the contested tile and tiles adjacent to it:

• Placing or breaking beds (for setting spawn)
• Placing or breaking shulker boxes
• Breaking door blocks (wooden or iron doors only — not redstone contraptions)

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.)
• 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.

Skirmish Rules

Due to skirmishes (fights done outside of battles) being an overall negative impact on the server and the enjoyment of the war for the playerbase, rules were made in favor of regulating these skirmishes. Any skirmish must happen in accordance with the battle conduct rules, and no skirmishes may occur inside the land of non-participating nations.