Like I said earlier, I am in favor of the new FCF mechanic - as long as it applies to a SMALLER KD waving a LARGER KD.
In it's current form I think it will be a mistake and seems to be an unwanted solution to a somewhat minor problem.
I am also curious as to who is pushing for this solution, as it seems to be mostly 2-3 VERY vocal people arguing for this solution on Discord (and those are from the top segment of the charts by my knowledge) ? Most critique seems to disappear in the chat.


So as I read the suggestion, the problem that needs fixing: "People dodge war because they are cowards and should learn to fight their wars, because activity is good".
Sure, plenty of waves probably results in a CF - but is that always because receiving KD acts cowardly ? And perhaps more importantly, should all Utopians be obliged to be present 24/7 to respond to a wave ?

15-20 Years ago, probably even 10-15 years ago as well, while I was a student and had a different set of priorities, missing a bit of sleep, playing utopia in class or just skipping class had little or no consequence. Today, I have a schedule where I try to fit in some Utopia time in between work, meetings, family life and hobbies. So does the rest of my KD. We are spread out across the world and we have certain times during the Utopian month where we actually have a chance of getting most of the KD active (or shortly after) - outside of this, few of us have the option of setting aside our daily life to deal with actions in a game. If a wave occurs close to our "action time" we can probably respond within a few hours and a war is likely to occur. If it occurs at a different time, it may be more than 12 hours until we can manage an organized response - in which case a CF is usually the standard reply to a wave.
Such is Utopia life outside of top 20 (?), and from the KD's i've been in nobody has really complained about this state, except perhaps when eating 2-3 waves (from different KD's) per day. In general you eat the wave, do a bit of diplo, CF is accepted and age goes on. Very rarely is someone persistant and continues to wave.


The second thing when it comes to waving is that most people waves a smaller KD when looking for a war. Last time one of the KD's I've played in last few ages got waved by a smaller KD, I don't think I actually remember. A few times the waves has come from KD's more less equal in NW, but for the greater part, you get waved by a KD that is larger than yourself.
And perhaps, this is were "cowardice" comes into play - but everyone will be looking for an advantage in wars. And not everyone will be confident about going up against a KD 10% bigger than themselves.


Now with the current defensive FCF proposed in Revised Changes, you actually add an incentive for people to wave into smaller KD's - it's free War points, but also free honor. Simply optimize your strategy and keep hitting into KD's barely 10% smaller for a free war point and some free honor. Who is gonna be happy about this solution except the bottomfeeders ? The mechanic is pretty obviously open for abuse.. and it adds nothing to promote a solution to what I imagine is the main drive behind the proposal - more activity and more war. Most peoples daily schedules doesn't revolve around Utopia, so they will not be able to reply to every wave. Neither will they be more willing to give away free war wins to a bigger aggressive KD. Even if people are mostly doing the "warring KD" approach, they still care about their honor, so losing 3% honor per FCF will still hurt. Not to mention if you get waved several times per day by different KD's.

The current Aggressive FCF proposed in Revised Changes is even worse. What if my KD decides to fight for its resources ? We neither want to war, but we don't wanna simply give them away either ? If people want to come and claim what is mine I want the right to fight for it - and if they absolutely go out of their way to be a-holes, I want to drive home the lesson that they will pay for what they take and still not get their wanted war (wasting their time and resources). So that the next time they wanna find someone to bully, they will think twice being targetting my KD again, because they know there is a price attached. With this change, they can wave - then 24h later claim a war point and 3% of my honor, while 5% of my honor will be destroyed for "disappointing my people".
It's like the UN punishing Ukraine for standing up to Russia.
Seriously ?



Now, I saw some of the vocal people claiming this change is a great improvement. It's not. Sure I can FCF and avoid future waves from the aggresor KD. But here is the thing, 90% of cases, if a CF is offered, that 2nd wave never materializes because people take the CF offered and move on.


So I think my proposal will help solve both the original intent of this proposal (Helping KD's find wars) as well as the current problem of forcing people to give up war points and honor to "bottomfeeding" KD's
**** Let the FCF mechanic only be applied when waving LARGER KD. ****
If KD's wave upwards, they are much more likely to find wars, and this change will give them an incentive to do just that (the war point(s) and honor).
And even though Utopia is full of logical inconsistencies, most people will find it more agreeable/sensible that if you have the balls to wave someone bigger, you should be awarded for such actions. (Just as waving someone 10-15% smaller is viewed as something negative).


If my proposal doesn't work out you can always adjust it or drop it after an age or 2.

The bigger risk (I think), is if the low and mid tier suddenly get into a situation where "bottom feeding" is increased and they are forced to pay honor to such KD's (or war them). Most players in such KD's wont suddenly increase their time or commitment to Utopia, they will more probably quit if they dont like the situation. And even if the mechanic is later changed, those players wont automatically come back.