Preventing wars

[rexarckain978]

Okay this is getting out of hand. So I'm trying to get all the Rein Princess Items and no matter what I do, someone ALWAYS declares war. What's worse is that no matter what, it happens in early game. This means that I most likely haven't even had a chance to get on their good side enough to convince them to follow me. On top of all that, they never seem to appear after the castle has been taken no matter where/often I look (this includes the slave auction). I tried doing the teaparty quests as soon as possible to increase diplomacy, but that leads to the NPC who wants everyone to be peaceful to not show up and they fight anyway. Is there a way to prevent them from fighting at all or is it a case of extreme bad luck and/or bugs/glitches?

[JKL]

Some princesses, like skeletonP and humanP or mermaidP and finheadP, declare war on the 3th day of the game (i think) to prevent that, increase your affinity with the reign in war and ask for peace. I advise you let the mermaid reign be destroyed by the others if you can because you can't recruit mermaidP yet (maybe with a ghost veil) so no special object, and even if you find a way to recruit her she don't have a special object, and you can't ask for peace with the mermaids. Set the day to 16 min in the system menu and speedrun to get all the princesses, that's the safest way to get them all.

[rexarckain978]

Okay, that makes sense. What about a three way war? My latest run had both Cat and Moth declare war on Goblin. What then?

[๖ۣۜSkye]

Another strategy is to use the battles going on between the castles to get some quick affinity and then spend it to ask for peace. One of the kingdoms will end up pissed with you but its better than a dead kingdom.
So in the case of Cat/Goblin war, find out whose kingdom the battle is closest to and fight for that kingdom. The battle should move away and after fighting two battles you should have enough to request peace if you were neutral before.

[Ozzie]

If you want to go the peaceful route, the easiest thing to do is take devil's advocate, shag everyone you see, and buy some royal presents. Devils advocate is helpful in getting the affinity to end things as quickly as possible. I usually keep at least 4 royal presents on hand. 2 for if war breaks out, and another 2 for if another war breaks out before I restock.

[TheDarkJediKnight]

Certain Reigns have thresholds that have to be maintained before they attack another Reign.

Like with Skeleton and Human, by bumping up the Human Reign's offense to at least one reduces the chance of being targeted, since the divide in the power levels between the two get reduced. By completing Princess Purity and obtaining Acerola Sap from nearby the Skeleton Reign and selling it, you will have enough Swirlies before the end of that day to bolster the Human Reign up by. If you raise it to two will almost reduce the chance of being targeted to nothing but at the same time increases the chance of Human Reign warring with the Slimes. Likewise the Cats are the warmongers of the South Region (although I've seen it where the Goblins also pick fights often enough, even as weak as they are initially).

Now I would generally recommend to even everyone's attack to about two, and max out the defenses; that way even if fighting does happen, the hefty defense will give more then enough time for the RNG factors of which side is winning at the moment to balance itself out. Since I've seen Reigns getting invaded manage to repel the invaders on their own. The problem is stacking any Military Upgrade raises the costs considerably, which makes creating a more leveled playing field unfeasible.., not without sinking alot of time into Loot Farming for all the Swirlies you can get from selling what you obtain.

By the time you pockets are laden with more Swirlies then you know what to do with, you can buy all the Presents you can and Gift two a day to each Princess, which makes bartering them to sign a Peace Treaty much less damaging on your Reputation (and also accessibility to be able to keep giving them more in the future).

Also unless you pick one of the other Knight backstories, Devil Advocate does help in that with whoever ends up going to War with another Reign will also increase your Repuation with them. That way you can see you are the ones instigating the fighting and also help you along towards accessing their Princesses and quell the fight.

...now, personally I just let them do their own things for the most part, only aiding the few in between that I like, though one thing I didn't mention that may or may not help is locating Helias in the Caves/Forests (most notibly only the ones thateither have nothing hostile in the area like with the Slime Pool or by Bab's Hut.., not sure after clearing the Kobold's Forest of that reoccuring boss fight will generate Helias randomly or not though).

Also I think hosting those Tea Parties are meant to reduce tension between the Reigns though in my opinion I think it odes the opposite because I've noticed more fighting amongst the participants of those early on more often then not. That is because I've done playthroughs where no-one in the Southern Region ever fought each other, and another time have the Goblin Reign go after the Moth Reign right after the Tea Party was over.

Take what you will from this, though raising the Attack of everyone above zero, then max out the Defense of those being attacked has worked the best so far (mostly because I Loot Farm due the fact that Cash/EXP are interchangable for this game), but that's just me. I'm sure you'll find whatever that works best for you (BTW, max Kobold's power, get the daggers from Human Reign slums, and just go to the Pyramid and smack the three Scarabs in the middle chamber then smack the two upstairs, refreshing as you change floors. EZ Swirlies. You are welcome, ye who are reading this last part and didn't know what I was meaning; you're welcome).