Can you provide an overview of the Conquest functionality (the Alliance vs. Alliance Campaign for persistent territory control)?
At a high-level, how does Conquest work? How do I acquire territory, launch attacks and defend my territory?
(this article is still under NDA and should not be shared outside of the Beta community).
I. CONQUEST
A. ZONES
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Conquest in Global Agenda takes place in Zones. Each zone can contain scores, if not hundreds of territories, and is open for only a limited number of hours each day. At launch, we expect to have enough zones that there is always somewhere to battle 24 hours a day. An Agency may fight in multiple zones, or may choose to just focus just in those zone(s) that correspond to the hours that most of their players are online. When a Zone is closed, no combat missions may be launched in it until it re-opens the following day. Zones provide a confidence that when they close all of the gains (or losses) made in that zone will be there when it re-opens the following day. This prevents an Agencies progress being lost overnight when their players are offline.
- The CONQUEST MAP is accessible from the main menu (by hitting ESC).
- The Zone selection is available in the top right of the Conquest Map.
- Facility Management (for areas you own) is available from the AGENCY Menu (Facility tab).
BETA NOTE: For the initial AvA Beta phase, we are starting with a single zone, limited territories within that zone and limited open hours. That is so we can carefully monitor the zone activity and also ensure that there is scarcity and conflict even with a relatively modest Beta population.
B. CLAIMING UNCONTROLLED TERRITORY
During the open hours of a Zone, any uncontrolled territory may be claimed by an Agency using a simple bid process. Select the desired territory on the Conquest Map, and place a bid that is higher than the current bid. A bid has a default time of 5min. If you win, the territory is immediately claimed, and is now the property of your Agency! All bidding currently draws from your Agency's bank. To deposit individual credits to the Agency bank, use the INVENTORY tab on the AGENCY menu.
Note 1: You must be the leader of a Strike Force (including at least yourself) to bid. To form a Strike Force, choose TEAM from the menu and then select Convert to StrikeForce.
Note 2: You must have the correct permission attached to your Agency Rank in order to bid!
Note 3: You are bidding from your Agency bank and must have enough Agency credits in Agency bank/inventory to bid!
After you have claimed a territory, keep in mind that you are now responsible to defend and manage it! You should deploy a facility as quickly as possible, as it will aid in the defense of the territory. To construct a facility, visit the FACILITIES tab of the AGENCY menu.
No Agency may claim more than 3 un-claimed territories per day. An Agency can, however, attack and capture an unlimited number of owned hexes!
C. CAPTURING TERRITORY
In order to capture a territory owned by another Agency, you must launch an attack mission against it. The following steps are required:
1. You must have formed a STRIKE FORCE with at least 8 players in it. This is done from the TEAM menu, where you can convert your TEAM to a STRIKE FORCE. Teams may only have up to 4 players, but a Strike Force can have up to 10 players. You may invite players from outside your Agency (or Alliance), as any rewards always go to the Strike Force Leaders Agency. You must have a team of at least 8 players to launch a hex attack.
2. Your Strike Force must have CARGO equipped. This is done from the CARGO tab on the Team menu. At a minimum, an Attacking strike force must have a dropship selected. This means the Strike Force Leader must have a valid dropship deed in his inventory. It is also highly recommended that Respawn Beacons are taken on the mission as well. Unlike matchmade PvP, no Beacon is provided automatically for you; if you want a Beacon within AvA you must bring it as cargo. If that Beacon is destroyed it will only be replaced if you have remaining Beacons within your Cargo.
Basic Dropships and Respawn Beacons are available from a vendor in Dome City. More advanced cargo, such as vehicles, mechs, and armored beacons, must be constructed by Agencies (see PRODUCTION below)! Please note that dropships have a maximum cargo size. You cannot launch if over weight. Improved dropships can carry more equipment into battle.
3. After your Strike Force is formed, and cargo added, the Strike Force leader must then bid on a territory they wish to attack. If no one else is trying to attack that location, then the mission will automatically launch within 5min. If someone else is also trying to attack that location, a bidding war may ensue. If you lose the bid, you may choose another location to attack, or may wait until the bid winner completes their mission, then re-bid.
D. DEFENDING TERRITORY
If territory your Agency or Alliance owns falls under attack, a warning will be sent to all players from that Alliance. This warning is sent the moment bidding starts against the territory, giving 5min for a defense to be formed. You may join a defense through the Conquest Map (by selecting the Territory Under attack) or through the Agency Combat Alert screen which lists out every defensive and offensive engagement your Alliance is involved in.
When joining a defense, you may do so as an individual, immediately being put on the defending Strike Force, or you may join as a Team (or pre-existing Strike Force) if you are the Strike Force leader. This allows pre-formed teams to quickly defend facilities, or for Alliance pick-up-groups to form quickly in an emergency.
Defenders are NOT REQUIRED to equip a dropship to their strike force, as attackers are. If there is a facility present in the territory, the facility has it's own cargo limit. Defenders may OPTIONALLY choose to use a dropship, if they wish to carry more cargo than the facilities free-cargo space provides.
Tip: Before a zone opens, you can pre-form your strike forces and get their cargo all sorted out. This will cut down the time it takes to get your players into attack and defense missions.
E. LOSING AND USING EQUIPMENT
There is a lot of equipment an Agency can construct and bring to Conquest missions, including:
Siege Vehicles
Mechs
Tougher Beacons
Mini-Nukes
Super-Hubs
Defense Platforms
Etc...
What's important to remember is that these items are all persistent. If you build a powerful mech, bring it on a mission, and it's destroyed - you just lost that Mech! If it isn't destroyed, you can use it again in another mission. Each time a beacon is destroyed, that's a beacon your Agency will have to replace.
For Attackers, Dropships can also be lost. Any time an Attacking Strike Force loses a mission, there is a chance they may also lose their Dropship. The cost of a lot of unsuccessful attacks can be high.
TIP: In Conquest, defenders automatically get very powerful force-fields to defend each objective with. While attackers can win without destroying these fields, it greatly increases the difficulty. These fields can only be destroyed by Mechs or Siege Vehicles. Siege vehicles are VERY vulnerable to direct attack, but have extremely long range and powerful guns. A smart Agency will protect them while they lower the force fields and bombard defenders.
TIP: Conquest maps are extremely reliant on Respawn Beacons, as there are no advanced spawn points. Agencies may want more than one player protecting their beacon, or trying to take out the enemy beacon. This requires a greater degree of team-coordination than traditional Global Agenda missions.
F. BASES AND TACTICAL MISSILES
Bases are special territories that provide a huge advantage to Alliances that control them. Each Base has a region it controls. If you control a Base, any other territory your Alliance owns connect to and within the region of the base is given a powerful protective shield.
Territories protected by a shield can only be attacked if preceded by a tactical missile strike. Tactical missile strikes can only be made if there is a Missile Complex facility within range of the targeted hex.
In other words, if you have a shielded Hex and there are no missile complexes within range of it, then it can never be attacked.
Bases are captured by controlling all six territories that surround it. After capturing a base, you must maintain control of at least 3 of the 6 territories around it, else the Base will return to neutral control.
II. PRODUCTION
A. FACILITIES
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All Facilities start as deeds in a players inventory. Basic "starter" Facilities are cheap and may be acquired through a vendor in dome city. It's highly recommended you immediately deploy a starter facility to any territory you control, as it will aid in defense of the territory, as well allow you to start production.
More advanced facilities will have to be created and traded by Agencies.
MINE FACILITIES:
Mines gather resources that are used in construction of Conquest Items.
Some resources are harder to mine than others.
Some territories may provide a bonus to mining!
Improved mines can gather resources at a greater rate, and may allow mining of rare resources.
LAB FACILITIES:
Lab Facilities can research blueprints.
BLUEPRINTS ARE REQUIRED TO PRODUCE ANY ITEM.
Blueprints tell you what resources are required for each item.
Some Blueprints take longer to research than others.
Improved Labs allow an Agency to research much more advanced Blueprints.
TIP: Starting labs only produce Tech I blueprints. Researching and building a "TECH II Lab" is the gateway to more advanced facilities and powerful equipment!
FACTORY FACILITIES:
Factories require resources from mines and blueprints from labs to operate.
If you have a blueprint and the correct resources (currently these must be in the PLAYERS inventory) you may add the item to the Factory Queue.
An item, once produced, is placed into Agency Inventory.
Improved Factories produce items faster.
TIP: Unlike Labs and Mines that can produce at any time, Factories are not worth having unless you have an avenue of getting blueprints and resources for them. Blueprints and Resources may be acquired on the auction house, if any group is willing to sell them.
MISSILE FACILITIES:
Missile Facilities provide the ability to launch Tactical Strikes against shielded territories.
In addition to the Missile Facility, you must also have produced a Missile to launch from it!
Missiles have a maximum range (depending on missile quality) so Missile Facilities often need to be deployed near the front lines.
TIP: Missile Facilities are the only way you can attack territories shielded by Bases. If there are no such territories you plan to attack, then it's a waste of a territory to have a missile facility there.
B. HEADQUARTERS
An agency will specify a single territory in a single zone to be it's "Headquarters." This designation has no impact on what Facility might be in that hex. Any territory an Agency owns not connected by friendly territory to their Headquarters operates at a reduced capacity. This encourages Agencies and Alliances to build connected, but does not require it.
There is no cost to moving a Headquarters. An Agency may always choose to have their largest continuous block of territory house their headquarters, or may tactically move it to where their most advanced facilities are.
TIP: When attacking an Agency, if you can split their territories in half, you'll hurt them far more than just pressing in on their borders!
III. AGENCY MANAGEMENT
A. ALLIANCES
Alliances are critical to success in Global Agenda. An Agency by itself will rarely be strong enough to survive. Being in an Alliance offers the support of more trusted players to defend, Alliance territory to bridge connection gaps, the ability to control bases, and political maneuvering to help your Agency grow.
Each Alliance is ruled by the founding Agency that creates the Alliance. That founding Agency has the ability to add or remove anyone from their Alliance at will.
B. AGENCY RANKS
Nearly everything involving the Conquest of territories has permissions that can be set. In particular, Agency leaders should setup ranks and permissions for accessing Agency Inventory, Managing Facilities, and Bidding on Attacks.
This is very important, as if no players in your Agency can bid, get dropships, or withdraw credits, you're not going to be able to launch many missions!
