RP Wars

RP Wars

Author(s)	chunghhoid (then TheLoyalHorse)
Genre	Early Developmental
Date Created	Late 2017
Known for	First major Executor RP in DiamondFire, beginning of DiamondFire-Warlords RP history
Successor	RP Wars 2
Inspired	Kingdoms 1
Status	Defunct, Unretrievable

RP Wars was a Developmental game created by chunghhoid, then known as TheLoyalHorse. Released sometime during late 2017, it was the first significant Executor RP and widely considered to mark the beginning of the history of the DiamondFire-Warlords community. With several current members of Warlords being witness to the gameplay, it remains relatively well recorded for games of its time period, but no direct copy of the game exists.

Prelude

n5Q (then known as Kcolyz) had come up with the concept of Executor RPs sometime prior to RP Wars, and had created a concept game to test his idea. Known today under the placeholder name Game Zero, little is known about the game except that it was at least somewhat successful, and it had encouraged n5Q to further explore the concept. He had several obstacles, however, as his plans to fully execute his vision were restricted by both a small plot size and a lack of access to DiamondFire's full catalogue of code, both of which were behind a paywall. To circumvent this, n5Q sought a ranked player with full access to the DiamondFire code as well as one with a spare plot to spare, and this eventually brought him to chunghhoid.

n5Q would share his ideas with chunghhoid, and what ideas he gave specifically remain unknown. Thus, it's impossible to determine the extent to which RP Wars was based on n5Q's original ideas or rather chunghhoid's own interpretation of n5Q's concept. However, there are a few things that can be determined based off chronology and n5Q's book, Some Adjustments:

• The base concept of the game being hosted without code was certainly passed on from n5Q to chunghhoid, as that was the main distinction between Executor RPs and any other game on DiamondFire during that time. Therefore, we can say for certain that n5Q had provided the foundation for RP Wars.
• n5Q's concepts as described in Some Adjustments called for partial automation of the game, which we know did not go into RP Wars. Therefore, we can say that chunghhoid had put some of his own ideas into the core mechanics of the game as well.
• It's also known that n5Q's original inspiration came from Risk Universalis, a Roblox country RP game that resembles a Loria genre game such as Belloria far more closely than RP Wars. RP Wars was a much slower paced, Developmental genre game that resembled Civilization 6 far more closely than it did Risk Universalis. Therefore, it's possible and likely that chunghhoid concept for RP Wars was in large part his original idea.

Overall, it seems probable that chunghhoid contributed a majority of the mechanics to RP Wars on his own, but n5Q provided the base concept of an Executor RP.

Gameplay

Overview

The map took the entire length of a Large DiamondFire plot (101x101) and four basic, playable settlements existed on each corner. Players could see their immediate surroundings, whilst a fog of war element obscured the remainder of the map. Players had the option of creating one of three basic units (the exact names of which aren't remembered):

• Scouts had a relatively higher movement speed than the other two and were made primarily to explore large swathes of land. They did not have a high inventory capacity (the maximum number of resources that can be held by one unit) and could not readily fight or build structures.
• Builders were a comparatively slower unit primarily used to build new villages as the player expanded. They also worked as harvesters, having the highest inventory capacity of any unit and being capable of harvesting wood from trees as well as stone from rocks.
• Knights worked as the player's main military unit, having a balanced speed whilst having the capability to fight and kill enemy units.

Players started the game by being able to explore, harvest, and build basic structures, such as wooden bridges to cross rivers and new settlements. The settlements made by a player increased the amount of units produced but had to be supplemented by a certain number of farms and wells that could also be readily constructed. An open-ended research system existed, and players started in either the Stone or Bronze Age (it is known that the player had no knowledge of the existence of coal or iron, and once discovered, the player had to research it prior to using the material). After a certain amount of time passed, the player would begin to encounter indigenous peoples. The possibility of interacting with these people and forming positive ties with them was infrequent, and they usually acted as an obstacle to the player, similar to how barbarians in Civilizations 6 function. No contact between players ever occurred, but it is assumed that players had the capability of fighting against one another, as well as destroying another players' structures to defeat them.

Timeline

The original four players of RP Wars remain unknown, although it is widely accepted that chunghhoid played as one of the four countries for the full duration of the game. All other three corners saw at least one player swap occur as the original player became inactive at some point during the game. The four corners will be named as follows, in order of chunghhoid's corner and then moving clockwise:

• Corner A is chunghhoid's corner. It mostly had forests and lots of rivers, acting as a natural obstacle as chunghhoid explored.
• Corner B was mostly clumsycapy's (then known as thecoolkid26) corner. An unknown player had started a country with a flag containing a skull, but clumsycapy had taken over the country early in the game and continued to play until the end of RP Wars. This country started in the desert, and also saw the discovery of a forest and mushroom biome towards the end of the game. A modest amount of rivers were discovered, as well as a body of rocks presumed to be the base of a mountain.
• Corner C saw several player fluctuations, but the player who stuck around for the longest was poisontrigger. This country also mostly saw forests, but discovered a tiny stretch of desert.
• Corner D also saw several player fluctuations, and the two players most associated with this corner were Fablor (then known as Fablor9900) and SenorConejo. This country saw the greatest level of biome diversity, and possibly explored the most extensive amount of land.

Corner A

chunghhoid's playthrough was straightforward. His country saw smooth development and few obstacles as he developed new settlements and constructed several bridges to move across the rivers with his units. It is also possible that his country conducted the most research, as he was well aware of the potential technological edge that research provided.

Corner B

clumsycapy's playthrough would also be relatively straightforward, though they struggled to develop as rapidly as chunghhoid did due to the scarcity of the deserts. They encountered modest resistance from indigenous units and thus developed several knight units, possibly the most out of any corner. The emphasis on developing settlements and research versus exploring more lands was relatively balanced.

Corner C

poisontrigger's playthrough was certainly the least successful of the four corners. Initially gaining an edge in development of settlements, considerable indigenous resistance was faced from the desert strip as well as deeper within the forests of his mainland. Failing to produce enough units to thwart the indigenous advance as well as attempting to focus his army on the desert, poisontrigger failed to fully address the issue and saw the death of several of his units, as well as a possible attack on his farthest settlement. These setbacks were far greater than any other player had faced, and Corner C remained far behind the rest in terms of development, exploration, and research.

Corner D

Fablor, like clumsycapy in Corner B, had a relatively balanced playthrough, where he'd expand while creating new settlements along the way. However, he quickly encountered a massive desert (the largest ever explored in RP Wars) and was forced to prioritize expansion for a short while. Fablor would become inactive and it would be SenorConejo who inherited his discoveries, upon which he'd create new settlements in the forests encountered on the opposite end of the desert. Corner D saw considerable development but not as much research as Corners A and B.

Aftermath

After some time had passed, chunghhoid had grown tired of hosting the game, and unilaterally decided to terminate the game. The map was replaced with black concrete, thereby ending RP Wars. This came to the dismay of some of the more active players as well as spectators, who not only enjoyed playing/watching RP Wars but felt intrigued by the game's uniqueness. One player (clumsycapy) and two interested friends (Bloxhead7 and dylan34481) were given permission by TheLoyalHorse to work on a sequel on the plot, known as RP Wars 2. However, this project was never finished. What followed after RP Wars was a time period known as the Early Dark Age, in which nothing was done with the concept. This period of history was the most likely point at which the concept of an Executor RP could've died out; had none of the original RP Wars players ever been interested enough to continue the concept, the idea would simply end there. RP Wars, despite pioneering the concept, was by no means a mainstream game; most of DiamondFire remained unaware of its existence, let alone the new concepts it had created. The failure of RP Wars 2 had all but killed the concept, and it would not be until one former player, SenorConejo, came and revisited the concept. Instead of creating a direct sequel to RP Wars, Senor instead opted to remaster the concept by implementing his own ideas into it. What resulted was Kingdoms, which went on to become one of the most influential games in DiamondFire-Warlords history.

Legacy

The influence of RP Wars is so pronounced in Warlords that it is considered the first RP game in the community's history, despite the existence of Game Zero. More specifically, the game had two significant influences on the trajectory of Executor RP games in DiamondFire:

• Firstly, it introduced the Executor RP concept to a relatively engaged audience and introduced it to people who were interested in continuing the concept. In this respect, it acted as the genesis for the entire history of DiamondFire RPs as well as the Warlords server.
• Secondly, it acted as the main foundation for the Developmental genre. The basic structure of the game makes it act as both a concrete and simple example of what a Developmental game would look like, and if it were preserved, would certainly act as the primary example for a Developmental game. It also marks the origin of the Early Developmental subgenre, the criteria of which is essentially defined by how similar a game is to both RP Wars and Kingdoms mechanically.

In this second respect, there are some critiques to be made. Although revolutionary for a time, should a game like RP Wars be created today, it'd likely be classified as a mediocre (if not bad) game. The general concepts were great, but their execution did not use the ideas to their fullest potential. Take, for instance, the indigenous units of the game. No effort was put into giving these individuals a distinctive identity or country with which the player could form complex interactions with. Alliances were essentially out of the question, and wars did not feel like conflicts - rather, the highest escalation possible would be an encounter between several units on both sides. The lack of a sophisticated battle system was not at issue here, and instead the lack of objectives on the player's part (i.e. "destroy this enemy city") made encounters feel more like an event rather than a war. Similarly, the research system saw plenty of wasted potential. For the average player, it did not feel as though research would provide any tangible benefit. As a player, one could only research one thing at a time, and it'd take multiple turns as well as providing small benefits. For instance, discovering the uses of coal alone would not serve much benefit to the player, and they would subsequently need to research both iron and smelting to gain any substantial benefit whatsoever. The research system even acted as an impediment at points, restricting players from creating innovative solutions by simply stating that they had not "discovered" a certain thing, such as flaming arrows. These concerns were all largely addressed by Kingdoms, and formed the basis on which SenorConejo would improve upon the original concept. As such, RP Wars is not truly remembered for its quality today, as its successors went on to execute the concept in a far better manner. Instead, it is remembered for what it had started.