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Deus Vult! - Casus Belli Rules

The Cause for War

Casus Belli translates as: 'The Cause for War.' In many LOTE games, players are free to pick their alliances and enemies at their whim with no tie to actual historical or game events. Deus Vult! seeks to attach more importance on actual game events for conflicts arising during play. At its base, the Casus Belli rules imposes a penalty on taking direct military actions against nations with which you have no history of conflict.

Nations will naturally come to conflict with each other. As borders expand, as trade networks grow, as intelligence and assassin groups are cultivated, national tensions will rise. Each time another nation aggresses against you in some way (Raiding, Spying, Diplomatic and Military Conflicts over Uncontrolled regions, direct Military Actions) they generate CB points - little excuses for your nation to justify retaliation. When another nation has generated enough points against you, you may use a leader action to officiall declare a Casus Belli. As long as your Casus Belli remains in effect, you do not suffer penalties for taking direct action against your enemy.

Full Control vs. Tenuous Ties

Nations under your Full Control (which are a solid color on the maps), are much harder to wrest from your influence then those regions which only have nominal, Tenuous Ties (filled with light bullets on the maps), to your nation.

The Duchy of Thuringia only retains Tenuous Control over the region of Westphalia.
Thuringia, Franconia and Nordgau are all Fully Controlled.

When an enemy attacks one of your Fully Controlled locations (or you attack an enemy's), there is a direct penalty to combat effectiveness. Each leader involved in the aggressive combat action counts as if they were wounded. This has a variety of effects, but mainly 1: their Combat Ability Score is halved (meaning your B combat leader acts as if he were a 6) and 2: A leader fate result of wounded instead counts as killed (making your leaders more susceptible to death on the field).

Attacks against locations with only Tenuous Ties do not suffer any penalties. Making them more susceptible to the predations and aggressive actions of your neighbors. Every full turn that you successfully retain Tenuous Control over a location, a check is made against the Resistance Value on a D10. If the number rolled is over the Resistance Value, then the location reverts to Full Control. Note that there are many modifiers to the die roll itself.

Positive Modifiers:
Location is Friendly to the Nation.
Successful DTT Operation targeting the Location.

Negative Modifiers:
Location is a Different Language.
Location is a Different Religion.
Location is Pacified Tributary.
Location is outside the CCR.
Unsuccessful DTT Operation targeting the Location.
Successful ETT Operation targeting the Location.
Region Contains an Uncontrolled City or Fortress
Region is of a Hostile Terrain
City is in an Uncontrolled Region.

Special Modifiers:
Pacified Locations are always Tenuous.
Secretly Controlled Locations are always Tenuous.
Friendly Regions are always Fully Controlled.

Once you declare a Casus Belli against an enemy nation, you no longer suffer the combat penalties at all - whether attacking Fully Controlled locations, or those with only Tenuous Ties. Your noble families have commited the nation's resources and expertise to the complete conquest of the enemy, regardless of an individual location's relationship with the Crown.

Generating Casus Points

Casus Points can be generated toward a target nation for undertaking the following actions:

Minor:
Assassination of Lieutenant, Ally and Bishop leaders
Kidnapping of Lieutenant, Ally and Bishop leaders
Diplomacy actions in the same AP against the same uncontrolled location
Stolen Technology
Stolen Gold
Unwanted Missionary work
Trade Embargos
Unsuccessfully Declaring Casus Belli

Average:
Raiding controlled regions and cities
Slave Raiding controlled regions and cities
Piracy against controlled cities
Stolen Relics
Combat actions in the same AP against the same uncontrolled location
Assassination of Prince and Heir leaders and Royal Family members
Kidnapping of Prince and Heir leaders and Royal Family members
Military Conversion of occupied regions and cities

Major:
Military Pacification of controlled regions or cities.
Looting occupied regions or cities.
Sacking occupied cities
Burning occupied cities
Regional Genocide against occupied regions or cities
Population Enslavement against occupied regions or cities
Assassination of King or Queen leaders
Kidnapping of King or Queen leaders
Successfully declaring Casus Belli

Note: A successful CF action that conceals your responsibility will also avoid generating Casus Points unless the Fact is later Revealed. A very successful CF action that blames someone else for the action will cause the scapegoat to generate the points instead (Again, until a Reveal Fact proves otherwise).

War Fatigue

Once a nation has geared up its economy for a full-scale invasion of its neighbor, it can only support such an active use of force for so long. A nation that remains in a state of war for an entire generation (5 turns) will start to see the strain of its economy. Nobles will begin to hoard resources, governors will squander taxes, peasants will be less productive as their sons are used for warfare. Don't be confused - when you declare an Active Casus Belli - you are commiting yourself to a large conflict. You should not make the declaration simply to make it easier for you to pillage an enemy's region. The loss of tax revenue will offset any minor monetary advatnages a declaration may imbue. Only the hard conquering of your enemy's public works laden regions and cities will make a full-scale war worthwhile monetarily. Of course, there may be other factors than money involved in your declaration - support of an ally, civil war, hatred of a neighboring king.

Every turn beyond the fifth, the War Fatigue effect on the tax rate has a chance of worsening. Nations which are actively involved in the conquest of their enemy are less likely to see a worsening than those nations who declare a war, but then never commit to an actual attack. War Fatigue can be alleviated in different ways:

Conquering the Enemy's Capital City
If you successfully attack and capture the enemy Capital, it surges the morale and economy of your people. While you directly hold the Capital, you will see a significant lessening of War Fatigue.

Abandoning the War
Your nation may grow so tired of the endless conflict that it seeks to cease fighting altogether. Your King may attempt to Revoke the Casus Belli it has issued and go back to non-hostile relations. However, ending the war in such a manner does have some lingering effects. The tax rate will repair itself at a rate of 5% per year. So if your ar Fatigue res resulting in a 10% loss of tax revenue, it will take two turns (10 years) for your economy to recover. In addition, keep in mind that the other noble families may cease an opportunity to thrust the reigning family from power. Failing to complete a war shows a vulnerability that some may use in their own quest for power.

Winning the War
Finally, if you trounce your opponant your War Fatigue disappears very quickly. The more territories you have personally conquered, the quicker your economy will repair itself. Assuming you have retained control over most of the enemy territory (Not having sold it off to various neghbors for their support), expect a minimum restoration of 10% per turn with the very real possibility of a complete restoration.

Secret Orders are a special case. They automatically begin the game geared toward the destruction of a particular enemy. As such, the Order is always assumed to have an Active Casus Belli against their Favored Enemy. In addition, that Casus Belli expands to include any nation which cements a Defensive Pact with their target. If you throw your lot in with an Order's Enemy, you open youself up to the same attacks.

On the other side of the coin, because Secret Orders are so geared in one direction, they may not declare Casus Belli directly. If they wish to attack another nation not involved in defending their Enemy, they must do so with all the inherent penalties, or limit themselves to attacking only locations with Tenuous Ties. Finally, Secret Orders may only hold locations at normal (non-site) status levels though Tenuous Ties. A Secret Order can never Fully Control a location until they settle over the remains of their conquered enemy.

New Actions

Declare Casus Belli
Type: Leader Action
Stat: Diplomacy
Code: WAR
Cost: 5 APs
Requirement: At least 1 Casus Belli point accrued by target nation against your own. Must be taken in the capital. (Or with K leader, if no capital.)

The leader attempts to generate a case for war against one of the nations who has currently accrued Casus Belli points. The more points accrued against your nation, the easier the action is to undertake. Only an impressive diplomat would be able to make the case for a full-scale war with only a point or two of accrual. If successful, the nation has a full Casus Belli against the target starting on the following turn.

When War is declared, this locks the current Casus Points accrued by the target of the War action. If these points are reduced to zero through appeasement, the war status is lost. This means that not only is declaring war with a small number of Casus Points harder to do, but also that such wars are much easier to buy off and end through appeasement.

Revoke Casus Belli
Type: Leader Action
Stat: Diplomacy
Code: REV
Cost: 5 APs
Requirement: Must have an active Casus Belli. Must be taken in the capital. (Or with K leader, if no capital.)

Sometimes war is not the best option. A Nation which finds itself on the losing end of a war, or a war they no longer wish to continue, may wish to revoke the Casus Belli themselves without receiving appeasement. This damages the King's reputation, however, and subjects do not like to follow those who call wars but cannot win or complete them. As such, when this action is successfully used, there is an increased chance of Dynastic Failure when the King dies. Other Royal Lines and Powermongers sense the weakness of the King and their efforts to gain power are emboldened. The better the success level of this action actually, the less strife is increased.

Pay Appeasement
Type: Leader Action
Stat: Diplomacy
Code: PAY
Cost: 5 APs
Requirement: You must have accrued at least one Casus Belli point against another nation through aggressive actions (Or being blamed for such actions.) or be at war.

The leader attempts to undo any national damage your nation has done to another. Included with this action must be some amount of Bribery in the form of the following:

Gold
Agro
Slave NFP
Royal Children as Hostages
Royal Children for Marriage
Control of a City
Control of a Region
Trade Route MSP
Seazone Maps (Rutters)
Relics
Troops

The more that is offered and the better the diplomat, the more the reduction in Casus Belli points against the target nation. If the nation is not actively at war with you, any success will reduce the number of Casus Belli points by some number. If the nation has actively declared Casus Belli via the WAR action on your nation you must reduce the Casus Points to zero before the War status will be removed. A bribe in time saves nine. Note that your actions will be recorded, and appeasement effects will be based on the effect of your original action. Don't expect Seazone Maps to appease an enemy whose capital you sacked and burned.

New Operations

Major 13th Century Conflicts

Major 12th Century Conflicts