The War System

The war system refers to the way war functions on the SniffSMP. The rules for wars on the server stem from a document that contained the proposed system. It was submitted on the 28. 6. 2023 and subsequently, the war system was unanimously accepted by players in a poll on the Discord server. It was officially accepted by staff on the 7th of September 2023.

Factions are allowed to declare war on other factions that can then accept the declaration and go to war.

## Document

The document contains the original proposal and the complete rules of war. You can download the it here:

File:The really finished war system.pdf

## In Practice

This is the "In Practice" section of the document:

**How do I declare war?**

If you declare war on a different faction, you must write a declaration on the Discord Server. First off, you will need to have a Discord account, or you need to create one and join the Discord server. You require the permission of your faction to post a declaration of war. After receiving permission, you must state which faction you want to declare war on. You need to add some information to your declaration:

1. The name of your faction and the factions you want to attack.
2. The Minecraft names of every soldier in your faction that will be participating (optionally, the Discord names too).
3. Your war goal. This affects what will happen when the war ends. You also have the choice not to pick a war goal and instead provide information about what your faction and your opponents would receive from each other after winning the war. If you leave out this information, your side or your enemies will also gain the entire domain of the war’s loser.
4. The time of day when you want to fight. Also include the timezone. If you don’t, it may lead to confusion. Another option is to state how long after the declaration is posted the war should start. If you don't provide a time, the war will start thirty minutes after the declaration of war has been accepted. But only if more than half of the soldiers of all participants are online.
5. (Optional) The date on which you want to fight.
6. (Optional) Who will keep the items dropped by the dead players.
7. (Optional) Where you are going to fight. (Possibly provide coordinates)
8. (Optional) If killing farm animals is okay
9. (Optional) If griefing is allowed in your and their territories during the fighting. It is essential that all floating blocks that resulted from the griefing are removed. The ruins should look realistic. They shouldn’t look ugly to players who didn’t participate in the war. The ruins should be cleaned up immediately after the fighting.
10. (Optional) If players are allowed to respawn a set amount of times.
11. (Optional) If players can respawn indefinitely and if there is another winning condition

**How do I accept a war declaration?**

You need to respond to the specific message that contains the declaration. You can accept the declaration and add your faction name and a list of all your soldiers, just like in the original declaration.

If you want to fight, but you want terms other than the ones described in the declaration, you can offer your own conditions, which the writer of the original declaration might accept. If you are later dissatisfied with the declaration or your faction cannot fight during the specified time, but the war’s declaration was already accepted, you can still write a message on Discord to cancel the soon-occurring battle. You can, however, only do this before the war starts.

**What can I do during the war?**

You can move into enemy territory or a specified location if the agreed-upon time has come. Whoever kills all the players of the opposing side wins. You can no longer participate in the war if you are killed in combat. If you spot any enemy soldiers, who are still fighting, even though they were already killed, you can report it to the moderation team. If something important happens in real life and your faction cannot stay active on the server, you can write a specific message into the in-game chat to tell the other factions that the war will be paused.

Your faction can then, or possibly later on, together with the other involved factions, choose a time to continue the fighting. Until the paused war has ended, you won't be able to start another one. All players that already perished before the battle was halted aren't able to fight when the war resumes. For example, some actions, like griefing, are prohibited during a war (for more information, look at this document's "forbidden actions" section). But using clever tactics and building walls or traps is permitted.

**What happens when my side wins?**

Depending on the terms and war goals in your or their declaration of war, you can take control of specified territories, the losing side’s items or entire opposing factions.

**What happens when my side loses?**

In that case, what happens is based on the war goal and terms inside the declaration of war (explained in a previous section). Suppose your faction’s entire domain or the region you lived in has been conquered. In that case, you can join your prior enemies’ faction, create a new settlement and possibly a new faction, or join an uninvolved faction. You can use the opportunity of creating a new settlement to reconquer your old territories later.

**What happens when no one wins?**

Depending on the terms and war goals in your or their declaration of war, you can take control of specified territories, the losing side’s items or entire opposing factions.

## Forbidden Actions

This is the "Forbidden Actions" section of the document:

The following actions you are not allowed to do in the context of war:

1. Griefing (With some specific exceptions)
2. Hacking
3. Admin / Mod Status Abuse
4. Killing Pets
5. Killing Farm Mobs
6. Spawn Trapping
7. Camping in the other side’s territory
8. Declaring war without permission
9. Accepting war declarations without permission
10. Killing unrelated players
11. Leaving the Server and continuing to fight after rejoining
12. Attacking without accepting a declaration of war
13. Attacking when nobody accepted your declaration of war
14. Continuing to fight after losing
15. Lying about which players are in your army
16. Impersonating other players
17. Attacking before the time your factions agreed upon
18. Attacking after the other factions didn’t or couldn’t join the server at the time that you and them decided upon