Diplomacy is Not an Option

Diplomacy Is Not An Option invites you to step into the worn shoes of a small Lord. Circumstances force you to fight—constantly. Build your castles, strengthen your armies, and experience war in a completely new dimension against always numerically superior enemies. 25,000 enemies assault your castle walls. To survive, master engineering, economy, and even magic.

Your King is a powerful and great leader, but also an arrogant pig who enjoys life's pleasures and drinking. With an empty treasury and tax increases failing, he can't sustain his luxury. This is a problem—especially for you. Peasants, fed up with rising taxes and hunger, rebel across your feudal lands. The King orders you to crush the uprising and sail to a distant land for gold (rumors speak of tons of it). Will you obey your lord and set sail to refill the palace vault? Or join the rebel leader to restore the justice destroyed by the tyrant King? Questions abound, but one thing is certain: blood will flow either way. Archers, sword masters, siege weapons, knights, and more stand ready to help you achieve your goal.

In Diplomacy Is Not An Option, the laws of physics are taken seriously. Every arrow launched skyward, every catapult stone, and every enemy is physically modeled, creating a tactile and consistent battlefield. Ensure your soldiers have towers and clear lines of sight to fire, or watch your best-laid plans foiled embarrassingly by your own men. Consider your gates, advance and retreat lines. Create kill zones and fallback positions. To achieve the best outcomes, you'll need to actively engage in the battle.

Even under siege, remember your castle is built on the backs of your peasants. Protect your people—they'll serve you best. Food shortages can occur, and soldiers may starve on the field. Build homes, bury corpses to prevent plagues, and treat the ill when deadly diseases spread from rotting bodies. Neglect your populace, and you'll soon face dire issues: empty stores, unrepaired walls, and barren barracks.

A functional army requires a functional economy. Food, Wood, Stone, Iron, and Gold form the backbone of your city's economy—monitor your stocks carefully to counter the advancing foe in time. Gather resources, choose storage wisely, and plan expansions and upgrades meticulously. Loot enemy lands and establish efficient farms and mines on your own territory. Forging good trade relations can also aid your cause.

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. If you've inherited a cursed kingdom, why not master the dark arts? Sturdy walls protect against most mundane threats, but in this game, you'll also battle the undead. Why let them monopolize magic? A dark history animates the dead and ensnares lost souls. On a brighter note, wield magic to rain massive fireballs on your enemies. Build magical monuments, collect soul crystals, and tear foes apart with destructive beams—or summon ghostly allies to pursue the fleeing.

The game is designed around freedom. Beyond the campaign, crush enemies your way in Endless Mode, Sandbox, or Challenge Mode on randomly generated maps. Develop personal strategies: focus early on castle walls, amass vast armies, or pursue a macro game of ambitious magic and costly investments. Discovering the most successful approach is up to you.

In real life, most problems stem from stupidity and greed, but here it's too late for talk. Peaceful resolution? Not an option. At this stage: Diplomacy Is Not An Option!