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Welcome to Dev Blog #18! We've got a long one for you this time: the siege system is live, working hand in hand with the claiming system to bring real stakes to war on Pactoria.
At a glance
- 8 hours a week of vulnerability, chosen by each nation
- A casus belli is needed to siege a town (not an outpost)
- 30 minute prelude, 1 hour siege, 5 minute postlude
- Keep inventory is on for both sides
- Win sieges to earn sovereignty points and take over towns
Vulnerability and casus belli
Each nation decides its own vulnerability time: 8 hours a week when its towns can be sieged. Pick hours when your members are usually online and ready to defend.
A siege can't happen without a valid casus belli, a reason for war. To get one, open a ticket and present proof for whichever type applies. A full list of valid casus belli will be posted later.
Outposts are the exception. They aren't owned the same way towns are, so sieging one needs no casus belli at all.
Starting a siege
Once you have a valid casus belli and it's the enemy's vulnerability time, the siege can begin. There are now several war camp variants to choose from.
Place a war camp near the enemy's claim and launch the siege from there. The area around the war camp and the claim becomes a siege zone.
How a siege plays out
- Prelude (30 minutes). Both sides prepare, and attackers can teleport to the war camp. If both sides agree, the prelude can be skipped entirely.
- The siege (1 hour). Attackers try to break in, steal the defender's nexus and haul it back to their war camp, while the defenders fight to stop them.
Blocks and TNT
Siege zones have soft blocks, like wood and dirt, that can be mined through, and hard blocks, like stone, that only break with TNT or siege weapons.
TNT and all block placement have a cooldown for attackers, so they can't be spammed. TNT also breaks through waterlogged blocks and obsidian, so nobody can hide in an obsidian box.
Deaths and balance
Keep inventory is on for both sides. When you die, you respawn at your town's spawn if you're defending, or at the war camp if you're attacking.
The more you die during a siege, the longer your respawn timer gets. No more mindlessly charging back in: staying alive now gives you a real edge.
Attackers need to be extra careful: every attacker death eats into the siege timer, burning time they can't get back.
Strategy matters just as much as skill
PvP skill matters, but it's far from everything:
- Dragon's breath can be thrown down from the battlements to burn enemies below.
- Enhanced firework crossbows can knock flying mounts out of the sky.
- Siege weapons each bring their own attacks, and used well, any of them can flip a battle completely.
The system is built to be fair for everyone, rewarding skill and strategy in equal measure.
Ending a siege
A siege ends when:
- the attackers bring the nexus back to their war camp,
- the timer runs out, or
- the attackers choose to give up.
After that, there's a 5 minute postlude before things settle.
Winning the war
Winning a siege earns a sovereignty point. Taking over an enemy town takes enough sovereignty points, and how many depends on the town's level: the higher the level, the more it takes.
See you on the battlefield!