Diplomacy: NAPs, Allies, and War

Alliances do not exist in a vacuum. The alliances of a realm declare formal relations with each other, and those declarations, kept and broken, are where most of a realm's story gets written. Diplomacy in RealmConquest is deliberately a matter of word and reputation: the game records what was promised, and leaves the keeping of it to you.

The four relations

Between any two alliances, the relation is one of four states:

• Neutral. The default. No promises either way.
• Non-aggression pact (NAP). A signed agreement not to attack each other. It says nothing about helping.
• Ally. A signed commitment to stand together. Allies typically share fronts, defense, and plans.
• War. Open hostilities, declared for the whole realm to see.

Signing and breaking

The rules of the paperwork are simple and asymmetric on purpose:

• NAPs and alliances take two signatures. One side proposes, the other signs. Nothing binds an alliance that did not agree.
• War takes one. Any alliance can declare war unilaterally, effective immediately. You do not need permission to be attacked-by-appointment.
• Leaving a NAP or alliance takes notice. Dissolving a signed treaty starts a 48 tick notice period, visible to both sides, after which the relation reverts to neutral. Your partner always gets warning that the agreement is ending; there is no silent unsigning.
• Ending a war takes both sides. Peace after a war is a white peace that both alliances must sign. One side cannot simply declare a war over while the other intends to keep fighting.

Proposals, signatures, declarations, and notices are delivered as diplomatic messages, so the paper trail lands in your inbox under its own filter and nobody misses a war declaration in the noise.

What relations actually change

Here is the part that matters: treaties are declarations, not force fields. A NAP does not make the game refuse an attack, and an ally relation does not grant the mechanical benefits of shared membership. Squads from a NAP partner can still march at your wall; the game will resolve the battle. Betrayal is possible by design, which is exactly why a kept promise means something and an oath-breaker's reputation follows them for the rest of the realm.

Two things do change mechanically:

• Intelligence detail. Satellite scan reports redact by relation: an allied alliance's report shows more detail about your holdings than a neutral one's, and a war enemy's shows less.
• The record. Relations are public context on the scoreboard and the map, shaping how every other alliance reads the board.

Everything operational (faster friendly movement, shared radar, gate access, ion defense, shield behavior) comes from shared alliance membership, not from diplomacy. An ally by treaty is still another alliance.

Reading the board

Because war is unilateral and treaties are breakable, diplomacy is intelligence as much as it is politics. A realm-wide web of NAPs usually means the big fight has not started yet. A war declaration is information about intent, timing, and confidence. And the alliance that breaks a NAP without notice paid no mechanical price, but every future partner saw them do it.

See also: Alliances for the membership benefits treaties do not grant, Messages and Broadcasts for where diplomatic mail lands, and Scans for the satellite reports relations redact.