This is a LONG read. We will be trying to ease out the learning curve in the future.
Here are some quick links to some sections on the page to provide a good starting point to understand the entire siegewar system. You can also use the menu bar on the left to explore details.
As a king or general, place a coloured banner in the wilderness close to a town to initiate a siege. Starting a siege will cost the attacking nation $50 per town plot the defending town has, which is placed into a war-chest. The war-chest will be recovered by the siege winner. While under siege, the town cannot recruit new residents or claim new land.
New towns are immune from sieging for 6 days. A town recently sieged is immune from sieging for the length of the previous siege times 3.
A nation can have a maximum of 3 active sieges at once.
The town under siege has a score shown in /t that will determine the siege winner. The attacking nation requires a positive score to win and the defending town requires a negative score to win. A siege lasts 3 days and a timer is shown in /t for the town under siege.
The military ranks for towns are guard, sheriff, and mayor/comayor. They may only contribute in a siege if it is their own town being sieged. The military ranks for nations are soldier, captain, general, and king/coking. They may contribute at any of the nation’s offensive and defensive sieges, as well as their allies’ sieges.
Military ranked nation players of captain rank and above gain a leadership aura which has a radius of 50 blocks. If a friendly military leader is nearby when a soldier dies in a siege, then points loss is reduced by 25%. If an enemy military leader is nearby when a soldier dies in a siege, then points loss is increased by 25%. If both a friendly and enemy military leader is present, their auras cancel each other out. It may be a good idea to target the enemy leaders first in a battle!
Leadership aura comes with a risk. If a military leader dies in a siege, then the points lost from their own death is doubled.
Notice! Changing ranks or ally relations while residents in your town, nation, or allied nation are in the siege zone, will penalise your town or nation in points in the siege.
As an military-ranked attacked or defender, gain banner control for your side, by remaining alive and close to the siege banner for 10 minutes. Once your side has banner control, 2 siege points will be awarded automatically every 20 seconds per military-ranked player with banner control. Points can still be gained from deaths after a player reaches their individual timed points cap. Banner control is only lost if: the enemy gains banner control, or if every player on the banner control list logs off.
Players that are in a banner control session will have the glowing effect, and lose this glowing effect when their banner control session ends (either due to the session succeeding or failing).
As an attacker or a defender with a military rank, kill enemy players within a 150 block radius of the siege banner to increase or decrease the score by 180 points. Allies with a military rank can contribute. All residents in the nation and allies with a military rank can contribute to the score. Town-based military ranks (mayor, sheriff, guard) only apply if the resident belongs to the town being besieged, otherwise they will need a nation-based military rank (soldier, captain, general, king)!
War Sickness is a bunch of negative status effects applied to players that enter siege zones when they should not be there. These effects are:
If you have War Sickness, some reasons include:
You do not have the appropriate military rank (guard for defending your own town, soldier for all sieges).
You belong to a Peaceful town.
Your nation is not allied with a side (the attacker or defender).
To get rid of War Sickness, just leave the siege zone.
Notice! If you receive the effects of War Sickness, it means that you are in the wrong place and could be punished. Use the /map to see where sieges are happening so you can avoid them.
If your own town is inside a siege zone and you are not involved with the siege, then you will get Minor War Sickness (Weakness V only). This will let you still play in your town without the harsh effects of War Sickness.
Players are always visible on the Dynmap (/map) when they are on the surface, but can be removed from the Dynmap via tactical invisibility. In order to achieve tactical invisibility, a player must duel wield weapons (that is, hold a weapon in the main-hand and the off-hand). Applicable weapons are: diamond sword, diamond axe, bow, shield, and trident.
Tactical Visibility can also be triggered by having the Invisibility status effect.
Any player busy getting banner control is always visible on the map, however can go invisible at the banner once they gain banner control.
There are certain restrictions that are enforced inside a siege zone or during a banner control session:
As a king or general, place an all-white banner near the siege-attack-banner to abandon the attack. The attacker can abandon the attack 12 hours after the siege started.
As a mayor, place an all-white banner anywhere in the town to surrender. The defender can surrender 12 hours after the siege started.
As a king or general, after the siege is won, place a chest in the wilderness close to the town. This will rob the town $25 per plot the sieged town has, transferring it to the plundering nation. If the town does not have enough money it will fall into ruins.
As a king or general, after the siege is won, place a coloured banner in the wilderness close to the town. This action will forcibly add the town to the nation, and will put the town into an ‘occupied’ state, in which its residents cannot affect siege points in other wars.
When the capital town of a nation is captured, the most populated town in that nation becomes the new capital.
Notice! Towns in a nation must have enough money in their town bank to pay nation taxes, else their town will fall to ruins. You can view your nation’s tax rate with /n.
View detailed information on any siege affecting the town, using /t.
View a list of any sieges the nation is involved in, using /n.
Many Towny interactions, including imposing taxes, calculating Peaceful status change, and selecting a Guardian town for a Peaceful town to join the nation of, happen every 24 hours. Check when the next “Towny Day” arrives with /towny time.
When a town is deleted or falls, the town enters a ruined state for 72 hours, whereafter the town is deleted. Any player can place and break blocks in a ruined town while the town claims remain. After 24 hours of the town being in a ruined state, any former resident can reclaim the town with /t reclaim if they have not left to join a new town. If no one reclaims the town after 72 hours the town and its claims will be deleted.
Notice! Remember to follow the rules written below regarding the looting of towns in a ruined state.
As a mayor, you may be able to declare your town as being “Peaceful”. This feature is aimed towards mayors uninterested in war or diplomacy, and instead favours a peaceful trade, roleplay, and building oriented experience without being hampered by conquest and PVP.
A Peaceful town is subject to the following mechanics:
Limited independence:
Anyone (including outsiders and non-allies) can use /t spawn to teleport to the town’s Homeblock.
The town is immune to being besieged.
The town is exempt from nation taxes.
Residents cannot get military ranks.
Residents get War Sickness if they enter siege zones.
Declare your town to be peaceful using /t toggle peaceful. It takes 5 days (3 days if the town is <1 week old) to confirm a town peacefulness status change after the mayor toggles peacefulness. The Peacefulness status change will be confirmed on the new Towny day. During this time, residents will get War Sickness in siege zones.
Notice! If a Peaceful town becomes the capital of its own nation, and there is an eligible Guardian town, the Peaceful town will still be forced to join that Guardian town’s nation. Similarly if there are no Guardian towns nearby, the Peaceful town is kicked from the nation and returns to being independent. This could result in the nation being disbanded or lost!
A Peaceful town is forced to join the same nation as any eligible Guardian town. If a choice is not made by the next Towny day, the largest qualifying Guardian town (size is determined by population × plots) is chosen. If there are no Guardian towns, the Peaceful town can choose to either remain independent or become the capital of its own nation.
A Guardian town must suit these requirements, otherwise the Peaceful town will remain independent:
Close to the Peaceful town (the distance between their Homeblocks is 45 chunks or less).
Has at least 25 plots.
Not under siege.
Not affected by a recent siege (i.e. they do not have siege immunity).
Is not a Peaceful town.
As a mayor, when a 7 days has passed after an invasion, the town can revolt and be free of the occupying nation. This is done using /n leave.
As a king, if your nation gets deleted for any reason, including capture of your last town, you will be refunded 50% of the initial cost of creating the nation by running /n refund. This can be triggered voluntarily using /n delete.
Walls are important. During sieges they help stop enemies from infiltrating towns and killing residents.
Outposts are important. Towns can be besieged anywhere they have claimed territory. Make provisions to defend valuable outposts, and abandon the rest.
Find residents who can be trusted to fight for your town or nation, and assign them the ranks of guard or sheriff in the town or soldier or general in the nation.
As a mayor, keep enough money in the bank for sieges and nation taxes. If a town is plundered of all its money by a siege attacker or can’t afford nation taxes, the town will be destroyed, entering a ruined state for some time. If the town is not reclaimed after 24 hours and before 72 hours, it will be removed entirely and other towns can claim in that area.
Diplomacy is critical. As a mayor, diplomacy can be the difference between your town remaining independent, within a friendly nation, or occupied by an expansionistic empire. As a king, diplomacy can be the difference between your nation succeeding, and its annihilation.