Node War Manual.

So, we have the fort planted, and the Node War is ready to hit. What to do?!
How to avoid those awkward moments when you feel like you've got caught with pants down?

This quick advisory will help you be better prepared for the node war and be all you can be!

Let's start with a list of quick prerequisites.

What to do before you come.

1. Be informed ahead of time!

We use Discord for communication about wars. There is a channel in discord on your top left, called #announcements. In that channel an advanced notice will be written about what day the war is on. Make sure you have a schedule freed up and you can log in at 8 PM EST on that day, with your gear repaired and your character ready for combat.
Node war announcements will be duplicated in #war_room - a channel for all the details about the node war. Specifics on strategy and tactics of the war go there ahead of time.

   


The war always starts at 9 PM EST, so we always have to be ready and assemble in Discord by 8 PM EST, an hour ahead, ready to receive orders and be designated your role.

Come into Discord at 8 PM EST

2. Learn the location!

Node war location gets posted in advance in #war_room, with a map of the area.
Be sure to travel to this area way ahead of time and find its Node Manager, so you have the map of the area un-fogged.
Once that is done, explore the area to learn landscape and locations of nearby towns, so you don't have to spend time later asking where you could revive a horse or get potions, or which road to take where.

Identify the nearest repair NPC, nearest Stable, nearest Potion Vendor, nearest bank.

Our fort looks like this on the map:



Learn the ways to approach our fort, the possible points of attack. Sometimes we know where enemy forts are. Study their locations as well (even though you won't be able to see their forts, until 9 PM hits on the dot.)

3. What to bring?

• 100 Healing potions.
  
• 100 Mana potions if you use mana.
  
• 5 Knights Combat Rations (K.C.R.) (eat them at 8:30 PM and keep eating them on cooldown as needed)
  
• 5 Valencia Meals (stacks with K.C.R. eat them interchangeably cooldown ends)
  
• 10 Fury Elixirs
  
• 5 Elixirs of Human Hunt
  
• 5 Elixirs of Life
  
• A charged alchemy stone of your preference. (Destruction recommended)
  
• Fully repaired gear.
  
• Fully repaired and fed horse (preferably with 100% charge skill).
  
• Have 500 000 silver in nearest bank, where you plan to repair and respawn the horse. (remember your paycheck is also available as emergency money)
  

4. Arriving to the War

Mechanically the war starts at 9 PM, but hostilities can start much earlier. In a node war, until 9 PM we won't be able to see enemy forts, and they won't be able to see ours. Because the buildings only synchronize at 9 PM. Until then, we can all move around the map, clipping through unsynchronized forts. This is both good and bad. Bad, because enemies can get into our base past our defenses and start the war inside our walls when 9 PM hits. Good, because we can do the same.

So the most important part is not to have our location be discovered before the war, and in turn, to discover location of enemy forts before we can even see them.
To accomplish these two things, we can follow some good advice points.

So, it's not 9 PM yet, and nobody can see each other's forts. We can only see ours, bad guys can only see theirs.

How to find the bad guys fort?

• Look for clusters of players sticking together, looking like they're building or gathering something.
  
• Scout outside of the perimeter of 200 meters from our own fort.
  
• Look for crouching players in ghillie suits (you won't see their white dots on the map).
  
• Look for horses where horses should not be - tall inaccessible cliffs, etc.
  
• Note mass movements of guilds from towns in direction of the war area.
  
• If you see a suspect enemy fort spot, switch channels and check for a mass of players waiting there to switch.
  

How to not get detected?

• Stay away from our fort, until it's 9 PM sharp.
  
• If you are in the fort location, switch to a different channel, and don't switch back to war channel until 9 PM. Beware, people may come on the channel to spot you.
  
• Turn off your pets and don't bring your horse.
  
• If you are in a ghillie suit, lay down in some bush. Don't just lay in the middle of the open ground, people can see you. Make sure the landscape actually hides you.
  

5. Siege Machinery

The fort will usually have a Hwacha (a powerful arrow cart) and Flame Towers, which need ammo. Ammo is usually supplied for us by responsible officers. Making sure those machines are operated is important, and keeping them stocked with ammo is vital for their operation. Climb inside the machine by pressing R when the war starts and use the interface to aim it and cause damage to enemies within the effective blast radius.
Controlling these siege weapons takes some time and practice, so don't be frustrated if you don't get it right away. If you are designated as a siege machine operator, make sure to keep track of your ammo and call out reloads to the defense team.

6. Repairs

If our fort is damaged, it can be repaired with Polished Stone. Polished Stone is made by grinding from Rough Stone. Make sure you bring some to the war with you.
To repair the fort, come up to it and press the button the interface tells you. It takes 10 polished stone to initiate repair.

7. Replacing Structures

Other structures, like siege, tents, depots, barricades - cannot be repaired. They have to be bought again with guild funds and replaced. If you are asked to replace a structure, buy it from the supply depot and place it on the ground by right clicking it and choosing a blue spot on the construction grid.

When placing a structure, you can be interrupted by enemy damage. Be mindful of that and make sure you're not under direct fire when placing. Call out that you are placing, to get the guildies to screen and peel for you.