Various Roleplay Mechanics

So you read the Rules of Engagement, possibly seen how RP plays out. However, there are still several key mechanics that you must comprehend before you delve into RP proper.

## Fleet Guidelines

* *Main Article: Fleet Guidelines*

Every navy must follow the fleet guidelines to ensure that the balance of RP stays intact. There is no ship type that can be produced indefinitely, forcing users to crank out more and more different classes of ships. Obviously, different ship types have different caps - for example, a battleship would obviously have a much smaller cap than a heavy cruiser or submarine.

Some of these ships also come with a class-limit, meaning that there is a maximum amount of ship classes that could be built before they reach capacity. They are known as **restricted ships.** If you reach the maximum class and cap limit, then you simply cannot build any more ship classes with them.

## Points System

* *Main Article: Point Store*

Every navy must have the ability to construct ships, and they do it via the accumulation of points (industrial capacity). Different ships cost different amounts, for example, a battleship costs 200 points to create, while a heavy cruiser costs merely 35 points to create. Maintaining a balanced fleet loadout is critical for success - a navy too heavy specialized and skewed in their numbers could find themselves easily countered when war comes.

The points system can also be used to scrap ships, but beware - you only receive 75% of the original value of your ship back from scrapping. This could be a viable way of quickly removing irrelevant ships, but relying on it to "hard-counter" enemy fleets could also be disastrous.

## Ground Combat

Some of the fighting in BSCF doesn't revolve around naval engagements. For that, users must command armies to invade and conquer foreign lands. While the rules for naval combat are far more fleshed out, ground combat deserves a special mention by itself.

Army sizes for all nations, regardless of size, are hard-capped at 15 million maximum. This does not take into account individual training, equipment outfits, logistical issues, or other things. This was made to make sure that army sizes cannot snowball out of control like in BSCN (with armies up to +80 Million personal employed)

All enemy territory, unless specified by the opposing user, will start off hostile and in an active state of rebellion/guerilla combat against the invaders. This makes it so that you cannot immediately consolidate territory. Using ethnic, economic, or political reasoning to attempt to circumvent this will not work - in the end, you are invading another nation's sovereignty.

A general rule of thumb (although it ultimately depends on the circumstance) is that to defeat a well defended/entrenched enemy, the attackers must have three times the firepower to have a chance at winning. This is because intrinsically, defending territory is much easier than attacking territory. Attackers must account for longer logistical supply lines, a constantly mobile battlefield command, and most importantly, attrition from the front lines. The defenders, on the other hand, do not have to worry about that.

It is worth a mention that the complete destruction of enemy armies in a few posts are all but impossible. Even the smallest division facing up against a whole army group could take several posts to resolve.

Some combat will revolve around unclaimed territory. Thus, if another user invades a country that has no standing nation commanded by anyone, then a member of the wiki can participate in the defense of said country using its native forces (AKA it can't use the forces from its own navy). The member who participates in defending the land cannot drag in allies, nor can he use the attack as a valid reason to drag their own respective nations into the war.

## Politics

**The starting ideology you pick is very important!**

There are many political systems and ideologies to choose from, but keep in mind - they could be used against you. The location of your nation is also very important - surrounding yourself with nations of the opposite ideology could end horrifically if you couldn't make peace or switch ideologies in time.

To declare war, one must need a valid casus belli - or a reason, action, or statement addressing why war is declared. A good casus belli could potentially ward off the enemy's allies - but the opposite could happen - a bad casus belli could lead many of your own allies to flock to your enemies. Thus, it is important to remember that war is only really a tool of last resort - when diplomacy, sanctions, and embargoes have failed.

Be wary of allying with yourself. A navy cannot receive points if all of the following criteria are achieved -

* HAS THE SAME IDEOLOGY (this is important - ideology is everything in BSCF) WITH ANOTHER NATION IT IS ALLIED/WORKING TOGETHER WITH
* It is obviously interlocked in a coalition to achieve a common goal with the same enemies and allies.
* There is absolutely no doubt that two navies that the same user controls are working together.

Thus, allying with another navy you own should be a tool used in the case of last resort, when absolutely everything has gone horribly. However, allying with your own navy could also be seen as metagaming, and allying with your own navy will almost always lead to an unjustified casus belli - meaning that you could run the risk of losing not one, but two navies at once.

If you make a NAP with another country and break it afterward, you will not be able to receive build points for the week. If you make an alliance with another country and break it afterward, it extends to 2 weeks. This effect does not stack, so you can break off NAPs with 7 countries and only get a week (or 2 weeks if they also come with alliances) worth of punishment. However, the punishment alone should be enough for people to consider if they should keep questionable alliances or NAPs.