Napoleonic Wars OnLine

Revolution and Reaction

Rule Book

Last modified December 30, 2011

This document provides the rules of Revolution and Reaction (RAR), the diplomatic module of the Napoleonic Wars OnLine (NWOL). A player who has read and understood these rules should be able to serve as a foreign minister or ambassador in RAR.

The rules are divided into five sections: Treaties, Alliances, Declarations of War and Peace, Transfers, and Ambassadors.

1. Treaties

1.1. The Foreign Minister of each state may agree to treaties with other states. These treaties may deal with alliances or declarations of peace; rules for such treaties are described below.
1.2. A treaty may either be secret or public, and whether the treaty is public or secret should be determined by the ministers of the states signing the treaty as part of the negotiations. If a treaty is public, then one of the foreign ministers of the states signing the treaty must post the treaty to the Diplomatic Record forum on the HOLF Guild website, and all other foreign ministers must post (preferably by reply to the original posting) indicating their signature. By default, the treaty will take effect as soon as two of the relevant ministers have signed. If players wish, the treaty may contain a clause saying that it does not take effect until all signatories sign the treaty. If they do so, then the treaty does not take effect until all relevant ministers post that they have signed. If the treaty is secret, then the foreign ministers do not not need post the treaty or their signatures. However, if they wish to notify the game administrator that a secret treaty exists (they may wish to do this to establish a basis for a transfer: see rules on transfers below) they may do so by email to the GA, and should clearly indicate that the treaty is to be kept secret. The game administrator will not at any time make any comment on the existence or non-existence of secret treaties, nor their contents. A public treaty may have secret clauses of which the game administrator is not informed, or of which the game administrator is informed but are not posted in the Diplomatic Record forum.
1.3. Treaties may include any other action allowed by the NWOL game system. Some historical examples include the payment of cash to one partner, the agreement not to make a separate peace with a mutual enemy, an agreement to respect the neutrality of a third state, or not to ally with a third state. Any terms the players wish to include in an alliance may be included so long as those terms do not involve violation of the rules of NWOL and do not include actions taken outside the game.
1.4. A state may renounce a treaty to which it has agreed. To do so, it posts a message to the Diplomatic Record forum announcing that it is renouncing the treaty. There is no penalty for doing so.
1.5. States are not bound to carry out the terms of treaties to which they have agreed, except as noted in rule 2.6 and rule 3.4 below (see also rule 4.7 below).

2. Alliances

2.1. The Foreign Minister of each state may form alliances with other states. An alliance may either be secret or public, and whether the alliance is public or secret should be determined by the ministers of the two states as part of the negotiations forming the alliance. If an alliance is public, then one of the foreign ministers of both states must post the signing of the alliance to the Diplomatic Record forum, and other foreign ministers must post their signatures. This may be done as part of signing a treaty, or may be done without a formal treaty. When all signatures are posted, the GA will confirm the treaty on the forum. If the alliance is secret, then the foreign ministers do not need to notify the game administrator of the signing of the alliance. A public treaty of alliance may have secret clauses of which the game administrator is not informed.
2.2. Three or more states may form multilateral alliances. When posting the formation of a public multilateral alliance, the ministers must name all other states party to the alliance in their signatures on the treaty. Two states do not become allied unless each minister names the other in the post. For example, if France announces an alliance with Holland and Bavaria, and Holland announces an alliance with Bavaria but not France, and Bavaria announces an alliance with France but not Holland, then only France and Bavaria are allied. France and Holland are not allied because this has not been announced by Holland, and Holland and Bavaria are not allied because this has not been announced by the Bavarians.
2.3. When an alliance is formed among three or more states, but not all of them have signed it, the alliance goes into effect between those states which have signed the alliance but not those which have not. Example: France proposes an alliance between France, Prussia, and Denmark. Prussia and France sign the alliance but Denmark does not. France and Prussia do become allied. If players wish, the alliance may contain a clause saying that it does not take effect untill all signatories sign it. If they do so, then that clause supersedes this rule, and in the above example, France and Prussia would not become allied until and unless Denmark signed the treaty.
2.4. When formed, alliances are inactive. While inactive, alliances do not have any effect on other modules of NWOL, and countries with an inactive alliance are treated exactly the same way as neutral states in other modules. In order to take effect in other modules, alliances must be activated. To activate an alliance, the foreign ministers of each state must post in the Diplomatic Record forum that the alliance has been activated. This may be done in the same post in which the alliance is signed, if desired. The activation of the alliance takes place immediately upon receipt of the second posting. The activation of the alliance will be confirmed by the GA on the forum.) A secret alliance must be made public in order to be activated, though some of its clauses may remain secret; because the activation of an alliance is published in the Diplomatic Record, the alliance must be public to be activated. A Foreign Minister may notify the game administrator of the formation of a public alliance and its activation in the same message, thus those two events may happen simultaneously. Ministers activating alliances may, but need not, refer to existing treaties in the ratification. If both signing ministers refer to the same treaty, the treaty will be referenced by the GA in the confirmation of activation in the Diplomatic Record. Activation of an alliance permits the armies and fleets of the allied states to undertake joint operations in GITM and PATE by drawing supplies and communications from one another's AQ and CQ units. See the GITM and PATE rules for further details. If there are conditions under which an alliance will be activated, those should normally be part of the alliance terms.
2.5. France may not have an active alliance with any other major power until the other major power has been vanquished by France. The vanquishment may be conceded but if it is, France must control at least one city in the other major power at the time of the concession for an active alliance to be permitted. If another major power concedes a vaquishment to France without France controlling a city, then France may have an active alliance with that state only after it has controlled at least one city in that state. France may have alliances that are not activated with any other major power at any time - this rule only limits the activation of those alliances.
2.6. When two states sign a treaty with a clause that forms an active alliance between those states, the signing of the treaty will be taken as a request to activate the alliance unless one or both states request otherwise in their post signing the treaty.
2.7. An active alliance may be inactivated by the foreign minister of either state by posting the inactivation of the alliance to the Diplomatic Record forum. (Two ministers are required to activate an alliance between two states, but only one is required to inactivate it.) Inactivation takes place immediately if notice is received more than 48 hours prior to a campaign turn, or more than 120 hours prior to a peace or truce turn. Otherwise it takes place immediately following the turn. Inactivation of alliances is confirmed by the GA on the forum. When an alliance is deactivated, it may not be reactivated unless the ministers of both states agree to the reactivation.
2.8. An alliance that has been deactivated may be broken by the foreign minister of either state. An active alliance must be deactivated before, or as, it is broken; both acts can be done in one post on the DR Forum. If the alliance is public, it may be broken publicly or secretly (though if it must be deactivated in order to break it, the deactivation must be public). To break an alliance publicly, the foreign minister posts the breaking of the alliance in the forum. If the alliance is broken secretly, the game administration need not be informed. If one state breaks an alliance secretly the other state may subsequently break it publicly. When an alliance is broken, it may not be reformed unless the ministers of both states agree to the reformation.
2.9. The terms of the alliance are negotiated between the two states and can be anything to which the two states agree that is permissible within the rules of NWOL. Alliances may be offensive, agreeing to attack another state immediately or under certain conditions. They may be defensive, agreeing to mutually defend against the attack of any other country, or the attack of one or more specific countries but not the attack of others. Alliances may contain both offensive and defensive terms.

3. Declarations of War and Peace

3.1. A state may declare war on another state with which is is not already at war. To do so, the Foreign Minister posts the declaration to the Diplomatic Record forum. The Prime Minister must reply to this post endorsing the declaration. The GA will confirm the declaration once the Prime Minister's endorsement is made. War takes effect immediately if the Prime Minister's post is received more than 48 hours prior to a wartime turn, or more than 120 hours prior to a peace or truce turn, or if the state on whom war is declared has a unit in the territory of the declaring state or a ship in the harbor of one of its ports. Otherwise it takes effect immediately after the turn. Once war is declared, either state may initiate a campaign. If a campaign is initiated, then further declarations of war and deactivations of alliances can take effect if they are received more than 48 hours prior to the first turn of the campaign. Example: Prussia and Austria are allied. Austria declares war on Russia more than 120 hours before the turn deadline and initiates a campaign. Prussia may declare war on Russia or deactivate its alliance with Austria, and these will take effect on T1 if received more than 48 hours before the turn deadline.
3.2. A state may simultaneously declare war on two or more states, if it wishes to do so, by having the Foreign Minister make one post with all the declarations, and having the Prime Minister endorse the declarations. All wars take effect as determined in rule 3.1, above.
3.3. If one state deactivates an alliance with a second state, the second state may declare war on the first state if it wishes, but the first state may not declare war on the second state for three campaign turns or one peace or truce turn, whichever comes first, unless it has no units on the second state's territory and no ships in its harbors at the time of the deactivation, in which case it must wait only during a campaign and then only for one turn. Example: Russia and Spain are actively allied at the start of a campaign. Prior to turn 3, Russia deactivates the alliance. On turn 3, Russia may not declare war on Spain no matter where its units are. On turns 4 and 5 of the campaign, Russia may declare war on Spain only if its units and ships were outside of Spanish territory at the start of turn 3. On turn 6 and later, Russia may declare war on Spain under any conditions. Spain may declare war on Russia at any time.
3.4. Two states at war may make peace. To do so, the Foreign Ministers of both states make a post to the Diplomatic Record forum announcing the making of peace. Both Prime Ministers must reply to this post endorsing the peace. (One state's ministers are required to declare a war, but two states' ministers are required to make peace.) Peace takes effect immediately upon receive of the second Prime Minister's endorsement. Peace agreements may be included in treaties or may be made without a formal treaty. Peace agreements, with or without formal treaties, will be confirmed by the GA on the forum. When two states sign a treaty with a clause that makes peace between those states, the signing of the treaty will be taken as a request to make peace unless one or both states request otherwise in their post signing the treaty.
3.5. If two states are allied, and one declares war or makes peace with a third state, the declaration of war or peace is not binding upon the other ally.
3.6. If three or more states wish to make peace simultaneously, the Foreign Minister of one posts the peace agreement on the DR forum, and the Prime Minister endorses the peace. As each state's Foreign and Prime Ministers endorse the peace, the state makes peace with all other states that have already endorsed. Example: France and Holland are at war with Austria, Prussia, and Bavaria. Holland's Foreign Minister posts notice of a five-way peace. All other Foreign Ministers post their signatures. France's Prime Minister posts his endorsement, then Prussia's Prime Minister does so. France and Prussia thereupon make peace. Next, Austria's Prime Minister endorses the peace. France makes peace with Austria. Next, Holland's Prime Minister endorses the peace. Holland makes peace with Austria and Prussia. Last, Bavaria's Prime Minister endorses the peace, and Bavaria makes peace with France and Holland.
3.7. When three or more states make a peace agreement, and not all of them sign it, peace is made by those who sign and endorse but not by those who do not. A peace agreement may contain a clause stating that it does not go into effect until all signatories sign and endorse it, which supersedes this rule if included.
3.8. When two states sign a treaty with a clause that makes peace between those states, the ratification of the treaty will be taken as a request to make peace unless one or both states request otherwise in their note signing the treaty. This must still be endorsed by the Prime Minister to take effect.
3.9. Truces may be declared by any combinations of land and naval commanders, and do not require approval of the Foreign Ministers or Prime Ministers. However, truces have no effect except insofar as players choose to honor them themselves, and do not affect the making of war or peace in RAR.

4. Transfers

4.1. As part of their diplomatic negotiations, states may transfer cities, crowns, victory points, and ships and TR groups among themselves. Requests for transfers are made by emailing the game administrator. They take place prior to the running of the turn before which they are made.
4.2. States other than the Bourbons transferring victory points to other states may not, during any one campaign, transfer more victory points than half of the number it has earned during that campaign, or 2% of its game starting score, whichever is greater. Victory points transferred between two states at war (except the Bourbons) as part of a peace agreement between them are exempt from this restriction. The Bourbons may not transfer more than half the number they has earned during the current campaign, and may not reduce theirVP total below its starting score (if it is already below its starting score, they may not transfer VPs at all).
4.3. A state may transfer a city or off-map port that it controls to the control of another state. The state receiving control of the city or port must be able to take possession. For a state which already controls one city to take control of another city, it must have a land unit in the city tactical square, or a land unit in the strategic square if no combat unit hostile to the receiving state is in the strategic square, or a land unit in an adjacent strategic square if no combat unit hostile to the receiving state is in the same or an adjacent strategic square. A state which does not control any city (either because it is newly created, lost all cities it had at game start, or had no cities at game start) may take control of a city in its home nation if it, or its Revolutionary twin state, has permanent control of the city. A state which does not control any city can take control of a city outside its home nation, or in its home nation of which neither it nor its Revolutionary twin state is permanent owner, only under the same conditions as a state which does control a city may do so. To take control of an off-map port, the receiving state must place a unit into the garrison, or have a warship in the port if there is no unit in the garrison, or only units allied to the receiving state in the garrison, at the time of the transfer. A state which controls only one city may not transfer control of that city to another state.
4.4. A state may transfer crowns from its treasury to the treasury of another state at any time, and may transfer victory points to another state at any time. Transfers of victory points (but not crowns) will be posted in the Diplomatic Record forum by the GA.
4.5. States may transfer ships from one state to another. To do so, the transferring ship must be in a port of the receiving state (either harbor or coastal waters), and no ship hostile to either the transferring state or receiving state may be present in the port. The crew manpower will be removed from the manpower of the receiving ship and added to the manpower of the transferring state (these happen immediately). The Bourbons may receive ships in the ports of the nation that controls them. The quality of the ship will be adjusted by an amount equal to the difference in average quality ratings for that ship type.
4.6. All transfers of cities, crowns, ships, and victory points between states are subject to the approval of the game administrator. The game administrator may block transfers that are deemed to not be in the best interest of the transferring state, even when they otherwise conform to these rules. Transfers of victory points are more likely to be blocked than transfers of crowns, cities, or ships. This will particularly apply when the transfer will move the recipient to a higher position in the score rankings and will not affect the position of the transferring state. Transfers between states in different size categories are more likely to be blocked than those that are within size category. In general, transfers of VPs, or large numbers of crowns, to other states will be approved only when the transferring state has been defeated in war and is conceding that it would lose as many VPs or more if it continued to fight, or when the transferring state gain equivalent value in other ways from the agreement (diplomatic position, territory, and so forth). If two states have previously signed a treaty, either a public treaty or a secret treaty of which the game administrator was informed, arranging for a future transfer of VPs, this will be taken into account by the game administrator when deciding whether or not to permit the transfers, but does not guarantee that the transfer will be permitted. The game administrator will ask a state for an explanation of how a transfer is in its best interests before blocking the transfer.
4.7. When two states sign a treaty with a clause that transfers VPs, Crs, ships or TR groups, or a city from one to another, this does not constitute a request to actually transfer the VPs/Crs/city/ship/TR. Transfers must be requested separately from the treaty ratification.

5. Ambassadors

5.1. The Foreign Minister of a state may appoint other players to serve as ambassadors to other states, or as deputy ministers to assist him, as he sees fit. However, neither ambassadors nor deputy ministers nor other assistants have the power to submit treaties, form alliances, or make declarations of war and peace to the game administrator. They may prepare such documents but the submission must come from the Foreign Minister.

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