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Neutrality: Why Can't I Declare War?

Every nation is either neutral (peaceful) or warlike — this is the single biggest fork in how the server plays for you, and it exists so builders and conquerors can share the same map without stepping on each other.

What neutral means

A neutral nation:

  • Cannot declare war on anyone.
  • Cannot be attacked — nobody can declare war on a neutral nation, no matter how tempting their land looks.
  • Cannot be pulled into a battle as an ally, even via a Mutual Defense/Aggression Pact.
  • Gets a much larger claim allowance and can hold more scattered territory clusters — see Claims & Territory.

A warlike nation is the opposite: it can declare war, be attacked, and join battles as an ally — but its claim allowance is smaller and tighter.

New nations start neutral

Every nation is created neutral by default. You have to deliberately opt in to the war game with /nation neutral off — nobody is dragged into PvP territory conflict by accident.

Checking and changing your stance

Command What it does
/nation neutral Show your nation's current stance and, if you recently changed it, how long until you can change it again.
/nation neutral off Become warlike — you can now declare war and be attacked.
/nation neutral on Become neutral — you're now safe from war, but can't declare it either.

Both require the Manage Diplomacy permission.

The catches (anti-abuse rules)

  • You can't go neutral to dodge a war. If your nation is currently involved in a declared, scheduled, or active war, /nation neutral on is blocked until it's resolved.
  • A 24-hour cooldown applies in both directions. You can't flip back and forth to game the system — after any neutrality change, you must wait before changing it again.
  • Re-arming (going warlike) can be blocked by your claim size. If your neutral nation is holding more territory than the warlike cap allows, you'll need to unclaim down to that limit before /nation neutral off will succeed. See Claims & Territory for the exact numbers.

So why can't I declare war on that nation?

If /nation war declare <nation> is refused, check, in order:

  1. Is your own nation neutral? Run /nation neutral off first.
  2. Is the target nation neutral? You simply can't attack them — that's the point.
  3. Are you already in an unresolved war, or do you have an active treaty/pact with them that blocks war? See Diplomacy.
  4. Is the current or next war-session slot fully booked? See Declaring War.