Declaration of war

This is the second forum I've posted, and this one is about the declaration of war mechanic.

I dislike the fact that a single attack automatically counts as a declaration of war. Yes, I understand that's basically how it works in real life. However, if you look at real-world history, China has attacked and sunk a lot of Taiwanese shipping vessels and small patrol boats, and to this day there has still been no formal declaration of war between them.

Because of this, I'd like the devs to make declarations of war completely optional and left up to the players. Let players decide entirely who they want to declare war with.

A declaration of war should only be automatic if a player's territory is actually invaded — that should be what puts them officially at war. Any attack on a surface vessel, submarine, aircraft, or anything else outside of their territory should not, by itself, count as a declaration of war.

Why do I want this? Because seeing a big red "at war" indicator on the map looks bad, and something that starts small can spiral into a huge conflict once a country is officially at war. A simple attack should only need to be answered with in-game articles or a retaliatory strike on their vessel — a full declaration of war shouldn't be necessary. Let that decision stay in the hands of the players, not the game.

I also noticed the game has been around since 2018, yet it's seen very little improvement in quality. PC players complain that it's pay-to-win, but I understand — you need revenue to keep the game running, and since there are no ads, that revenue has to come from players.

Additional suggestions:

Add more diplomatic options beyond Right of Way — a non-aggression pact, a peace treaty, and a formal declaration-of-war standard.

Let players choose where their resources go instead of having other players buy them first. Sometimes I want to sell resources cheaply to my coalition members, but other players snatch them up before I can — that's really disappointing. Let us decide where our own resources go.

I play on mobile, and overall the experience is good — just improve the graphics a bit. Modern phones have hundreds of GBs of storage, and the game is only around 100MB, which feels too small for a game this complex.

Overall, the game should lean further into realism — it's not just about exploring and expanding, but also advanced diplomacy, negotiations, and treaties.

I polished them using AI lol