Counter Strike

A counter strike (CS) is the first set of coordinated attacks made by an alliance on another alliance that has recently directed a first strike (FS) against them. It signals the alliance's willingness to participate in the current conflict, and, in a war where the number, size and networth of the countries on either side are more or less equal, its effects are usually weaker than the FS that was brought to them earlier, owing to the countries that have already been destroyed in the FS. A CS, like an FS, also lasts 24 hours.

The effects of a CS (number of countries killed, networth destroyed, etc) can be good indicators of how long a war is going to last. They can also give hints as to the skills available to the alliance conducting a CS, as well as to the skills available to the alliance that brought the FS to them earlier. For an alliance to be able to last longer in a war, stonewalling is very critical during a CS.