Normal Relations

[andstrauss]

Let's say system conections are as follows:
1 <--> 2 <--> 3

Turn 1
Player A controls 1 (Census)
Player B controls 3 (Census)
Player B controls 2 (Troops)
Players are at Normal relations

Turn 2
War is declared (4.1)

Turn 3
Player B retreats the troops on 2

Turn 4
The lane between 1 and 2 is severed

Are the players still at war? How can they fight if there's no known lane that connects both empires?

Can normal relations (and consequently treaties / declarations) be broken if the connected empires are not connected anymore?

Cheers,

[zyffyr]

Leaving aside the particular case of War for the moment, and looking at the more general case of lost contact (such as if System 2 was owned by empire C, and they were the ones who severed the link).

I would consider the default situation to be a freeze in relations as much as possible.

Trade access treaties would remain techincally in effect - once contact is restored they are back in full force.

Treaties that require specific actions by one or both parties are gone - can't sell ships to someone you can't reach...

In the case of War, the answer varies.
Are you using Wartime Economy rules, or just letting things run at 100% at all times?
If no War Econ rules, then just let the players decide if they wish to remain at war - it has no practical effect until they regain contact.

If you are using War Econ rules, then how do you handle 'technical' Wars - where two empires go to war for the econ boost but never fight? Treat the situation the same way and let the players decide when to roll back out of the war.

[Tyrel Lohr]

In a situation like this, I would say that the War would still be in effect. They still don't consider the enemy to be their friends, and will engage them on sight when they run into them again. A good example of this would be the Thebans from the Starfire universe; they were effectively at war with the Orions for decades before actually meeting them.

With the Wartime Economy rules, I think a rule was introduced somewhere that made it so that a wartime economy would reset to Peacetime after there hadn't been a military engagement in X number of turns -- can't remember if it was 6 or 12. The player then can't gear up again for a similar period of time (or they go into a recession for 3-6 turns, I can't remember exactly which it was...)

[andstrauss]

With the Wartime Economy rules, I think a rule was introduced somewhere that made it so that a wartime economy would reset to Peacetime after there hadn't been a military engagement in X number of turns -- can't remember if it was 6 or 12. The player then can't gear up again for a similar period of time (or they go into a recession for 3-6 turns, I can't remember exactly which it was...)

I'm using wartime economy. But I don't have a supplement that has the rules for that possibility of a fake war.

Cheers,