Hell's Guide to Fort Wars

DeletedUser

In this thread, I will attempt to introduce information on what I deem are good strategies and approaches to being successful at fort wars, both individually and as a team.

fort3d.png


But first, I provide these basic maps to help everyone create their own fort strategies:

smfort1.png


smfort2.png


medfort1.png


medfort2.png


lgfort1.png


lgfort2.png


Now, all forts are not going to be unbuilt or full built. You will encounter forts with some built and unbuilt towers. To quickly emulate those fort maps, just follow these simple instructions:

customfort.png
 

DeletedUser

PREPARATION (before battle)

Place yourself on the map by simply clicking where you want to be. If you are not happy with where you initially placed yourself on the map, you can click on your character and then drag your character to a new spot. This can ONLY be done before the battle commences.

When you place yourself on the map, you will still need to set a target. A target is merely where you intend on going next round. If you do not set a target, you will charge to the flag, and die. So you need to set a target. Here is how you do it.
1. After you place yourself on the map, click on your character.
2. Then, click on where you want your character to go.
3. An icon will display, which looks like this:
target.png
.
4. If you did not do it right, you will not see that icon. So try again, click on your character and then click on where you want to be next round.
(note: if you still can't find that icon, you may have double-clicked on yourself and your icon is hiding under you. To see if that is the case, move your character.)


MOVEMENT (once battle starts)

To move yourself once the battle starts, you will do the same thing:
1. Click on your character.
2. Then click on where you want your character to go.
3. An arrow will appear as you move your icon around the map, which will look like this:
pointer.png

4. Once you click on where you want your character to go, that arrow should set itself. If it did not, repeat your actions (click self, click destination) until that arrow points to your destination.
5. Remember to pay attention to Line of Sight, discussed in a later post.

AIM AND TARGETING


Aim and targeting is automatic. You cannot choose who you want to shoot, you cannot aim past the people in front. You may only shoot at the closest target in your line of sight. Now, consider this, because that means you do have "some" control over who you can shoot, based on who you have line of sight with.
 

DeletedUser

Mindset and Teamwork are crucial, so here are the things to remember:

1ST PRIORITY
More Onliners In Chat - You need lots of onliners. If you're not able to be online for a fort war, that's okay, but those who can, must absolutely be online and NEED to be in chat following the plan. If you are in CHAT, and you are going to follow the plan, you should be prioritized (given Private rank).

2ND PRIORITY

Line of Sight (LOS) Advantage - You must ALWAYS ensure that you have LOS advantage. What this means is that there are more of your team targeting then there are of the opposition targeting your team, and this applies individually as well. You can accomplish this by a number of ways, which I will attempt to demonstrate in later posts. Just keep this in mind when participating in fort wars, and learn from the experience.

3RD PRIORITY
Follow Directions to the Letter - A good General will provide verbal instructions and visual aids. You MUST follow them. Time and time again it has been demonstrated that when attackers hotdog, focus on trying to get xp instead of working as a team, not only does their side lose the fort war, but they end up with far less xp. So, for both the team and yourself, you absolutely MUST follow the orders presented by the General.

STAY ALIVE
No Martyrs/No Snipers - When it comes to following directions, plenty of times we get the urge to go kamiikaze, to martyr ourselves, or to snipe on the side for those extra xp points. DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT be tempted to do any of these. As ONLINERS, you need to be in 100% condition for the END of the fort war. Sure, many of you will be hit along the way, but the less you can be hit, the more the offliners can be targeted instead, and the greater chance you have of winning a fort war.

(Attackers) UNBUILT TOWERS/WALLS - BAD
Do Not Get On Unbuilt Towers/Walls - Towers and walls, when not built-up, do not provide enough bonus points and, if you do get on them, you will sacrifice your line of sight advantage. I.e., everyone in the fort will be targeting you and any other FOOLS that decide to jump on those walls/towers.

FLEXIBILITY
Plans Change - Your leads will be providing plans, but plans change during the course of a battle, so you will ALL need to remain flexible, be willing to change according to the directions of the General.

ONE COMMANDER
Chain of Command - It is imperative that everyone respects the chain of command and does not attempt to battle for control of the fort war while it is going on. In most cases there will be one General, and one General only. It is a good idea to assign a Captain if, for any reason, the General is not available or non-responsive. You will also find it helpful to assign one or two Lieutenants, each of which will focus on ensuring the chat channel runs relatively smoothly. It is imperative that everyone respects those in lead roles, no matter the personal gripes.

CHAOS OF WAR
Crap Happens - Things will get hectic, chat may go wild, people may not follow directions, There "will" be boneheads doing foolish things. In times of chaos, rally around the General, don't freak out or get mad. In fact, laugh about it (after all it's just a game and we're here for the entertainment).
 

DeletedUser

Planning a Fort War

When planning a fort war, it is important to contact five times more people than is needed for the fort war. That's right, five times more than needed (for a small fort we're talking 250 players. For a medium fort, 500 players, and for a large fort, 700 players).

The big problem with getting numbers is thinking you can get just the right amount of people to participate. Well that doesn't work. Don't over-think it, don't think for others, just contact everyone you know and let them decide if the fort is full already. Let them decide if there is room. In fact, doing this will increase the likelihood of more people showing up in chat, simply because they don't want to be excluded from the battle.

You're trying to win a fort war, not organize a party, so overbook, don't overthink.

Providing Information
You need to provide a simple, but detailed post on what you are planning. Do not make overcomplicated instructions, and do not make an overlong fort recruiting post. Keep it simple, or you simply won't get the numbers you were hoping for:
Fort -- You just need to provide a link to the fort, so use the [fort][/fort] bbcode to highlight the fort, or your allies are going to find it very hard to locate that fort on the map.

Time -- Reiterate the time of the fort war, and make sure it is understood we're dealing with Server Time.

Chat -- Until fort chat is introduced (I understand it's coming in the next update), you need to use an external chat utility, and share this with all the participants. Be careful not to hand it out to untrustworthy persons or the opposition. I recommend www.chatango.com, a browser IRC channel, or some other chat utility that provides you plenty of control.

Plan -- Provide a plan, let everyone know where they need to position themselves before a fort war. If you can, provide them a visual aid, such as these provided below:

Here's the template I generally use:

Code:
[B]ATTACK ATTACK ATTACK ATTACK ATTACK ATTACK ATTACK ATTACK ATTACK[/B]

The Hatchet has been dug up!

To ensure a win, we want [B]EVERYONE[/B] to follow the plan. To ensure a win, we want [B]EVERYONE[/B] in chat following commands. Please show up 30-60 minutes [B]BEFORE[/B] the start of the fort war and we will place you on priority status. 

Fort --- [fort] _________ [/fort]
Time --- [B] 00:00 @ 00/00/2010 [/B] (Server Time)
Plan --- [URL="http://tinyurl.com/_____"]http://tinyurl.com/_____ [/URL]
Chat --- [URL="http://________.chatango.com/"] http://________.chatango.com/ [/URL]

Once again, remember, show up in chat 30-60 minutes [B]BEFORE[/B] the fort battle and try not to end up on our blacklist by going all maverick, we need team players, thanks.  Use your ingame name. Hope to see you there!

[B]Last note[/B]: If you cannot be online, place yourself as offline at the fort, because we will still need you. 

[B]ATTACK ATTACK ATTACK ATTACK ATTACK ATTACK ATTACK ATTACK ATTACK[/B]
Credit to everyone who has ever fought in a fort war --- won, lost, and learned --- and to my townies for their insights.
 
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DeletedUser

Giving away all your top secret info I see :)

Great guide, I use this on other worlds that I'm not with Hell in... I'll give you some rep after...

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Hellstromm again.
 

DeletedUser618

i really like your message template. I have been messaged to join fort battles that have not said to attack or defend. It can make for an interesting battle when you are shooting at your own town-mates. I always double check my invite before joining a battle to see which side to choose. When it is pasted across the top of the message it is hard to get confused.
 

DeletedUser15169

good plan, honestly I think if somone doesn't use that already-they wont be winning any fort battles for a while, because thats all just basic know how to give info out, and how to organize the teams.

anyone that consistently wins fort battles atm knows how to give their info, COMMUNICATE and all that, however there are some people who play the game for a LONGGGG time and are still Noobs about team work, which is basicly all that is required for fort battles :D
 

DeletedUser

One thing you missed is that this is a game, and like other parts of the game, fort battles are supposed to be fun. Sniping is fun. If you try to make fort battles 100% serious, you're going to completely take the fun out of them. Yes, following orders is important, but if the situation is under control and you understand LOS, sniping cannot even remotely by any stretch of the imagination be considered suicidal.
 

DeletedUser

I do not disagree that sniping can be fun, but it is a major contributor for why many fort wars are lost. If the General says to go north, and a handful of troops are hanging south to snipe, the plan is compromised. Also very few players understand how to snipe without being injured in return, and for onliners to get injured so early in the fort war decreases the chance of winning the war altogether.
 

DeletedUser

As i deal a lot with people who are high level but never or only a few times participated in fort battle i've wrote a few tips for them. Maybe someone else will find it useful too:

TIPS to fort battles

TRAVELING
For fastest travel use Indian set + Quater horse. It will save hours from your journey, literally.

GUN
Always use best Precise weapon you can buy. NEVER buy normal or rusty weapons! Good weapon = more damage = more exp & KO's = more fun at fort battles.

CLOTHES
Use http://westcalc.info/ deep calculation option for determining the best items for use in fort battle.

CHAT
ALWAYS use chat if play Online!


Online vs Offline
If possible - always try to be Online.


BASIC TACTICS:
... maybe another time :)
 

DeletedUser

TRAVELING
For fastest travel use Indian set + Quater horse. It will save hours from your journey, literally.

Although a much cheaper alternative is the Mexican set. But you get a little bit more speed bonus with the indian set though.

As for the guide, it looks good Hell!
 

DeletedUser

Although a much cheaper alternative is the Mexican set. But you get a little bit more speed bonus with the indian set though.

I disagree.

Mexican-set.png
Indian-set.png


If you have no HBR (or mobility), the Indian set is better:

With Huckleberry's slingshot and no HBR:
Indian: (261)% * 1.44 = 375.84%
Mexican: 253% * 1.48 = 374.44%

When does the Mexican set become equal?

(261 + HBR) * 1.44 = (253 + HBR) * 1.48
375.84 + 1.44HBR = 374.44 + 1.48HBR
1.40 = 0.04HBR
HBR = 35

If your HBR is higher than 35, you're faster with the Mexican set.
 

DeletedUser

Great guide to start from.

I guess one more thing would be to add(apart from different tactics and why/where to apply them):
always plan as if you are going to be offline at the time of the battle, even if you are sure that you will be online in time. [Stuff] happens, grandmothers die, internet-providers go broke, the police may make a raid on your house and confiscate your computer.

You can always change your position if you do turn up at the fort early enough.

Position yourself according to the plan provided beforehand, if no plan was provided - attackers stand in the 1st or second line, set your target to move forward to hug the wall, that way, if the bulk of the attackers move to the opposite side you will make the defenders think twice if they want to stand on the wall.

For defenders, well, stand on your tower or the wall(since there isn't enough room anyway - only stand inside the fort if you are completely sure that you will be online), I don't know - I rarely defend.

Does that make sense? I've only witnessed about 15-20 fort battles so far, so I'm a greenhorn when it comes to fort battles.
 
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DeletedUser

For defenders, well, stand on your tower or the wall(since there isn't enough room anyway - only stand inside the fort if you are completely sure that you will be online), I don't know - I rarely defend.

If there's no plan, or you haven't seen it, the best rule of thumb for defenders is to go by how much the fort has been built. If the towers have been built up enough for the bonuses to compensate for the increased exposure, they're the place to be, followed by the walls. The walls will probably be built at least as much as the towers, but even if they aren't, you're there to support the towers. Personally, I think any 3x3 tower is worth manning, unless possibly it's the only one.

If the towers and walls are completely unbuilt, usually the case for small forts owned by big towns, the phalanx/cluster/huddle defense is definitely the best choice.
 

One Armed Ninja

Well-Known Member
If the towers and walls are completely unbuilt, usually the case for small forts owned by big towns, the phalanx/cluster/huddle defense is definitely the best choice.

As always, it depends on the plans the attackers are trying to use. If they're circling in one direction, the best counter is to get a load of people to bail out and just use a fully manned tower for protection.
 

DeletedUser

And starting on the towers and walls and bailing in the second round is also an option, regardless of how developed the fort is.
 

DeletedUser

And starting on the towers and walls and bailing in the second round is also an option, regardless of how developed the fort is.

Thats what isnt 100% clear to me.

As i understand now battle goes in this order:
1. Defenders move
2. defenders shoot ?
2. or attackers move ?
4. Attackers shoot

Is it so?
 
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