Hello again, everyone. It's time for another dev diary for Arbitology: Dei Gratia Rex. Wars eventually have an end, one way or another. Peace treaties were rarely cut and dry affairs. If, for example, a war was fought over a stated territorial goal, that doesn't mean that particular territorial goal is the only thing that might be on the table. Further, defensive wars don't always have to be about maintaining the status quo. Not to cast aspersions on those games that do things that way, of course...
Peace Talks
In this image, we see the results of a decisive victory. Between raids, sieges, and battles (err, honestly the battles are still forthcoming, work with me here!), England is victorious! Merely occupying the land doesn't capture it of course. There are formalities that must be observed.
An invitation to parley! Naturally peace can be refused at this juncture to perhaps force through a better deal. There is a kind of "war score" under the hood. There are no arbitrary caps to this score, but there may be practical ones. Peasants don't like war as they are the ones who bear the brunt of the suffering. The Church proclaims the sinfulness of war, at least outside of certain prescribed bounds. Sometimes even nobles get tired of fighting, preferring the tourney circuit as a safer outlet for their martial energies. Regardless, there is choice here. Peace can also be sought before a total victory as well.
Many things may be demanded for peace...
... but the demands must be commensurate with the magnitude of the victory. Asking for too much might cause the demands to be rejected and met with a counterproposal.
If everything goes to plan however, the demands will be accepted and peace can return to the realm.
On a personal note, seeing all the systems written over all this time start to connect is incredibly satisfying. Each system is fine enough in isolation, but seeing the systems interlock is hugely motivating.
What's next
A lot of things, really. For starters, I will finish up the peace negotiations, especially tuning them. Then after that battles, maybe!
I'm also not happy about the miniature for the peace talks and taxes section. Finances are still very tight, but I'd definitely like to get a little more art that fits better here. We'll see of course. Speaking of art, I'm also experimenting with some new assets for the Steam store presence. There will probably be more information on that in a future dev diary.
Thanks for reading, more to come next month!