MP etiquette for war...

[Peter Ebbesen]

This is a game of religious warfare by megalomaniacs seeking godhood. Unless anything else is agreed between those who are playing, everything goes - just as in normal diplomacy.

As such, if you are going to be playing together with other players, the most important thing to do before you start is to check whether they play with house rules, and, if they do, to decide whether they are house rules you can accept playing with or not.

Barring house rules to the contrary, you should expect that the troops on your lawn pissing in your plants and hogging your booze are all the warning of impending war you'll ever receive, previous treaties or mutual understandings notwithstanding.

Expect any alliance to be an alliance of convenience and any treaty to be one of mutual interest that won't last long once it ceases to be in the interest of those who agree to it and you should be well prepared.

Some players have problems coping with such real world diplomacy or just dislike the playing style and prefer to play with house rules prohibiting the breaking of agreements without prior warning (see e.g. earlier posters in this very thread requiring prior warning to breaking NAPs), but they should be courteous enough to tell you of any such house rules if you join a game with them before the game starts.

You'll never go wrong with asking, though.