New unit - Flag of Truce

[phoenixffyrnig]

I've been in a few games where, for various reasons, a couple of players have decided to call a truce, often to deal with a much stronger opponent who would otherwise stroll to victory. The problem is, there is no mechanism to do this, other than chat, which gives the game away, or retreating your forces, which isn't a clear message and also relies on telepathy from your opponent.

Unofficial truces, or even alliances, would be so much more effective if they could be done in secret. My suggestion is a foot unit with no attack carrying a big white flag that could be sent up to the player we wish to truce with. The player can then decide whether to accept, by leaving him alive, or refuse, by killing the poor bogger.

Cost 1
Hp 4
Attack 0
Armour 0/0
Speed 4
Trainable in TCs, barracks and castles.
Edit - Can NOT capture TCs

Obviously this opens up a diplomatic can of worms, with issues such as trust and honour (or honor) coming into play, but could lead to some interesting unions.

[Badnorth]

Needs writing tech to produce would be good. Or else this'll be a cheap and fast town capturer.

[phoenixffyrnig]

Good point Quaddy. Edit incoming...

[Badnorth]

Unit description: The white flag is an internationally recognized protective sign of truce or ceasefire, and request for negotiation. It is also used to symbolize surrender, since it is often the weaker party which requests negotiation. ... The improper use of the flag is forbidden by the rules of war and constitutes a war crime of perfidy.

Therefore only trainable 1 time per game.

[Badnorth]

They could also automatically appear when the player forfeits..

[phoenixffyrnig]

Perfidy! Good word Quaddy - any who abuse the sacred undertaking of a truce without formally acknowledging it's cessation I shall label *player's name* the Perfidious!

I agree with you, it should be heavily limited, but (thinking of chaotic 6 way FFAs here) there could be need for more than one, especially if someone refuses your truce offer and shoots him down.

Is it possible to put cool down on unit training? I'm thinking something along the lines of no more than one at a time per player, plus a 10 turn cool down.

(If this gets in, we could maybe start a muliplayer topic assessing how people act with truce, praising the chivalrous and shaming the perfidious )

[Badnorth]

Also if the truce man gets killed it will show on chat system: A truce has been declined then points where it has been killed. Just like when something gets assassinated it will show on chat system: Your unit has been assassinated. But this time it is for all players too see.

[Badnorth]

But the truce flag should also have its flaws It was the same as forfeit afterall.

[phoenixffyrnig]

But the truce flag should also have its flaws It was the same as forfeit afterall.

While I agree it was the same flag used in truces and surrenders, I don't feel a strategic ceasefire should be seen in the same light as submission.

Yeah, a message can be given out if declined, but if truce is accepted, I would rather it remain anonymous and incognito. My rationale behind this idea is to allow these "agreements" to be reached without alerting other parties, and to add another layer of personal interaction to this game.

[ProtectorLordGarmin]

Is this a stealth unit? Because when someone makes a regular white flag waving unit, and walks it over to someone's bases, even if the intended person knows what's going on, everyone else could also know, and go kill the truce man with an arbalest or something, and ruin all the truce plans. Or if the intended target doesn't know a truce is being offered before the truce guy is killed it could ruin any chances of peace.

[phoenixffyrnig]

Is this a stealth unit?

I hadn't considered that actually, I play almost exclusively with fog of war and was only thinking from that point of view, so what was in my mind was a non-stealth unit that was up to the player to guide into the desired opponents sight while keeping it out of other players sight.